P5: The Trickster of Chaos
by Dim95
Summary: Ren Amamiya, having thought that his ideals to save humanity, fell into the stark reality that his actions as Phantom Thieve were meaningless when he decided to betray his friends. Dying in the Velvet Room after inciting his execution, the Ruinous Powers bring him back to life as a second chance to take revenge on the society that took everything from him, as the Trickster of Chaos
1. Chapter 1

**After reading the fanfics of the P3: Fallen Messiah and P5: the Fallen Hero, I decided to make this story where the protagonist of Persona 5 (Ren Amamiya following the plot of the anime) will go to the side of evil ... but this time the Gods of Chaos of W40k, joining both universes in a single story.**

**I'm also thinking of joining Royal's plot.**

**My grammar can be bad, just as English is not my mother tongue.**

**All comments and criticisms are welcome.**

* * *

The definition of a prison consisted of an allegory where people who are convicted of their committing crimes are destined to spend a long sentence without going outside to the warm exterior. They were dark and depressing places, where the allegory of freedom was a smoke that was blown away by the wind. The bars in the prisons simplified the separation from the outside and the safeguarding of the dangers, but it also came to symbolize the internal confinement in a hole until you go crazy and insane, to later lose all of humanity.

Although, in other expectations, a prison came to represent the perpetual imprisonment of a human soul that will be condemned to an uncertain future, a path that would have no return, a bumpy stony crossroads where one could trip and fall, be they They were looking for an alternative path towards new possibilities of living a different life, a dream that is impossible to achieve with more performance than one does in obtaining it, or finding the meaning of your own existence at birth and questioning yourself so that you serve in society.

After all, they are all prisoners of their own destinies.

Whether good or bad, the result does not alter the product, all were fixed in an order that would lead them to be prisoners without realizing that one is born in confinement. The decisions that one can make to avoid being a prisoner of a tragic event that could occur in a place or at a certain time would harm the moral of the individual in which action he had to face: follow your path without meddling in another's conflict, or risk leaving you lead by the sense of duty.

It did not matter what you did, after all you would be entering your own personal jail. Seeking freedom would be of no use whatever efforts you put into it, freeing yourself from the chains was not an easy job, how heavy was the sin or mistake that you committed at the time of taking the action, there were no going back to repair the mistake made.

For Ren Amamiya, the concept of being a prisoner was a mere word in describing a poor wretch who spent all his life following his ideals, the consequences of an action generating a reaction that led to a disaster that would be compared to the passage of a tsunami. Ren thought that he would be free of his cruel destiny to be a prisoner of his own misfortune, but he was wrong, everything he had done was nothing more than suffocating smoke, an illusion, a lie.

What was the mortal sin he had committed? Well, simple: throw the flag of defeat and sell those who once called friends to get rid of a life they never wanted, and as a result of their own act of what could be called "selfishness", ended up being killed by the temporary member who was always a traitor. It could be called that as divine karma in resting in peace when his astral body was released, but unfortunately his peaceful rest in the hereafter was a mere disappointment knowing that he would not be in paradise, but in hell.

His punishment for the crime committed was to spend the rest of eternity in a prison, although he could not be said to be a real one, but the psychological representation that Ren reflected within him by the horrible experience of living in one when he was confined by the simple act of defending a woman from a drunken politician.

He wouldn't call it home, but the Velvet Room (a metaphysical place that was between dream and reality, mind and matter) fit his comfort like a criminal deserving his punishment; spend eternity in his cell until the end of time.

Did he regret what he had done? ... Not!

He felt no guilt for having made the decision to hand over his friends to authority; the torture he had to undergo in the interrogation room at the SIU headquarters broke him psychologically, reaching the point of breaking internally. The bruises provided by the beatings used by the officers throbbed in his aching body, even the drug administered to him owes him severe anxiety attacks such as insomnia and schizophrenia. In moments of paranoia, he felt all eyes staring at him like sharp daggers that cut his skin; in that instant he had felt lonely, left to rot to rot like fruit.

Feelings like rage, hatred, and anger welled up inside him until they erupted like a volcano erupting. His resentment towards the society that had turned his back on him was so strong that his psychological state was broken into a thousand pieces of glass after being impacted by the harsh reality that he lived as a miserable cockroach that crawled among the rot.

The second opportunity that was given to him as a divine miracle was nothing more than bullshit, his rehabilitation was a bad joke, a waste of time, a simple community job that only filled him empty as more reforms had been requested.

The same faces, the same results as always. Each visit to a Shadowed Beings in Mementos was still the same story told in different versions ... nothing surprised him at all. The whole of society was rotten, decomposed, dead. The definition between justice and anarchy was the same faces of a single coin tossed in the air to see which face would win.

The human being was a self-destructive creature that would resemble a time bomb; you will not know at what moment it would explode when the gujas touch the indicated time of their detonation.

From Ren's point of view, neither society nor humanity deserved salvation, and just saving a species that is destined for perpetual annihilation would only accelerate it.

Still, he made a good choice to stop following the path of the average hero and focus on the reality he was living. Torture and aggressions were the keys to his true awakening that his duty as the trickster who would save humanity from destruction was only pure second-hand quirks without any significant value. The world was dead and society was dead with or without any savior who would be willing to risk his own life on something so absurd and so trivial that it makes you want to vomit.

The Phantom Thieves of Heart and their role on stage were to give hope in the dark with every request they made, but to Ren they were emotional idiots who only cared about themselves only using Mementos as an escape from reality, exposing their true masks that they had kept so much; arrogant, despotic, self-centered, narcissistic, vain, shotgun, among many other insults they deserved to have. The dispute between Ryuji and Morgana that almost broke the team and Haru's despotism was the psychological trigger to hate them and see them die.

Having delivered them felt like a heavy weight was lifted, his murder at the hands of Goro Akechi made things easier at the right time to feel free. Being dead in the underworld, most of his acquaintances must be saddened, but it would be considered a lie that people who had despised him for having a criminal record would not feel sorry for a despicable being as he died.

He saw Sojiro as a thorn in the ass that only meddled in his affairs, the Shujin Academy (the students and teachers would not mind that a criminal like him was dead) they only admitted him for improving his reputation tainted by the undercover cases That they happened behind closed doors, his parents never called him or sent him messages asking about his well-being ... while the rest of the confidants who had established social ties, were simply not interested in his reactions to his death; they filled the group with despicable beings, not to mention Sae Niijima's bitch and Goro Akechi's psychopath on the list.

After all, you couldn't complain.

He was no longer on the earth plane wandering like a soul in pain, but in the Velvet Room, where he would spend the rest of eternity in peace in his own cell, happy and relaxed of his choice made.

Igor and the twins weren't happy about the selfish gesture on their part, but he didn't give a shit about their fucking fucking angers. They wanted a savior who would guide humanity to hope, but they had the wrong subject. Corruption and decadence was always at the forefront of civilizations from their creations, like cancer that appeared in the body without warning.

However, Ren did not seem to enjoy his life of relaxation in his cell, but a deep uncertainty overwhelmed him until he entered a state of depression. Happiness was replaced by negative feelings, such as loss, rancor, hatred, and contempt. Nothing changed, everything remained as it was.

Having endured the enormous weight of guilt and emptiness that afflicted him, Ren spoke in a dead tone:

"... execute me"

Igor and the twins were startled by surprise at the sudden question he had never spoken after having betrayed their group.

"What did you just say, prisoner?" Caroline said, tilting her head and folding her arms.

Ren inhaled ondo, got up from his bed, and gave the three of them an apathetic empty look without any emotion.

"... Execution" he repeated again, but with poisonous bitterness. "... I demand an execution"

The three looked at each other, confused and inconsequential at the strange request of their guest.

"Why do you want us to execute you?" Igor questioned in his usual harsh, hoarse tone. "Your punishment, Trickster, is to spend eternity in your cell for having turned your responsibility to save humanity from calamity. You had a great fighting spirit, but you wasted it at the last second when you broke. You failed, and as a consequence of your acts ... "

"I am aware of my actions ..." Ren cut coldly, looking at him sharply between the bars as he leaned down and grasping them in the hands of fists until they turned red. "I know the situation must be in the shit when I gave up on continuing with your rehabilitation. I know that my ex-friends must be suffering in their own punishments for the selfishness of mine to betray them ... But, you know what? I care what is happening to society is a pain in the neck, neither I care nor I care about the seriousness of the matter. Humanity is destined for its own destruction because it is its nature, it cannot be changed without even more reforms it has to be done to stop it Those hopes of yours that society can be saved is a mere lie that is only used to see a positive side, but that positive side does not exist, neither the good or the bad, but the gray. I left my job because I was sick of living an illusory appearance that I could hardly understand that the world is shit.

I am fed up because my life has been contaminated when I committed that heroic stupidity to help that woman. I'm tired of always seeing the same faces in every damn reformation in fucking Mementos. I am tired of those around me because they are a lot of incompetent. I'm tired of hearing the same frustrations from every fucking fucking Shadowed Being. If the world goes to shit, then go to hell. I am not interested in the repercussions I made in the face of my act of need. If human society is destined to fall, then let it fall. The world is dead to me, everyone is dead. My family, my friends, the people I have met, the school, they are all just lies, miserable, despots, useless, idiots, ungrateful ... people of the town who only live in appearances under their masks. I do not regret what I have done or retract for a second. What I did had to be done and was done: human society ceased to exist forever when it fell into disgrace. And at the end of this peculiarity, it is my execution, the last living vestige of humanity"

Enduring silence filled the entire room, tensing the room to an icy atmosphere with little oxygen. The three occupants of the Velvet Room were stunned and speechless at the cold and direct words Ren had thrown like sharp blades slicing through the skin. They did not utter a word after several hours, they were still stupefied, until at the last second, Igor recovered his speech:

"Hmmm ... I understand ... I fully understand your frustration. You worked under pressure to save your world without thinking about the enormous cost that had to be done, both physically and psychologically. You suffered a lot on your journey, saw the other side of society, went through various obstacles that were challenging, but you were broken by not being able to continue with your assignment. You renounced your destiny, and humanity is doomed at this moment. I suppose you were correct in deciding your resignation"

"... I am," Ren stated dryly. "... Release me from the contract"

Igor nodded as he snapped his fingers. An intense hot sting sharpened in Ren's mind, feeling like some sort of astral cleansing. Arsene and her other Personas that she had collected in her former life as Phantom Thieve disappeared in a single flash. In his mind it was like a cave, silent and silent, devoid of any hint of life.

"Your contract that held you responsible for bringing salvation to your world has been revoked, terminating your resignation at your own will," Igor harshly intoned.

Ren nodded silently without saying anything.

"... Now, it is time to fulfill the second agreement"

The cell door opened with a sharp creak. The chain that was attached to his leg was released with a metallic click. Ren emerged from his dark cell as he stepped forward, stopping a meter away. His mood was that of an emaciated and senile old man, with a listless and somber expression drawn on his features. Her black hair was messier than usual, and her dark gray eyes were clouded like storm clouds in stormy and drizzling weather.

Justine and Caroline took firm positions on both sides, awaiting the order. Sadness, disappointment, sorrow, empathy, and sorrow loomed on their faces. They did not want to do it, but they were obliged to do it.

"It is a pity that so much potential wasted at a turning point," Igor said in a disappointed tone. "You had an unrivaled fighting spirit, a trickster who would not give up without fighting to the last drop of effort and deceptive courage. You surpassed my expectations when I saw in you a rebellious soul, a renegade who did not bow to anyone, not even before the yoke of law or lawlessness. I had great confidence in you, Trickster, but you surrendered until you abandoned everything you have done. You were the only hope of saving humanity from its imminent perdition"

"... Once in a while you get disappointed in life when you have high expectations of someone, but in the end you end up disappointed anyway" the boy sentenced in a dead and gritty tone, shrugging indifferently of his situation. He was not afraid of dying, but an emotional void. "It was fun while it lasted"

"... It was, always has been, but in the past" Igor shook his head. "A real pity. Goodbye, Trickster."

Ren did not return the farewell when he felt his vision clouding in a flash of powerful light shot by the twins that enveloped him until he disappeared from existence.

* * *

In the vast spectral sea that he composed on the plane he was in, Ren had thought he could rest in peace after having died during his execution in the Velvet Room ... but no, he didn't ...

There was something that bothered him, a feeling of melancholy that invaded him inside, letting him express, hatred, anger, anger, sadness, fear, and pain ... all those feelings began to emerge like a water bubble that burst into that he had to store and endure during his miserable life in the underworld.

He screamed, cursed, cried ... released all emotions that hurt him so much ... all those memories were nothing more than a stake stuck in his mind that made him suffer.

He hated the Phantom Thieves, he hated the society he lived in, he hated the people he had socialized, he hated his caregiver, he hated his school, he hated his parents ...

He hated them all, cursing them from beyond with all his bitter and poisonous fury.

When he finished emptying everything, Ren became apathetic and depressive ... it was no longer worth getting even with his old life ... that was a thing of the past, and his eternal suffering was being in the hereafter.

Letting out a heavy groan, Ren closed his eyes, letting the spectral sea envelop him and dissolve him like crumbs until he disappeared ... but he didn't feel that, but something else ... something, disturbing.

When he opened his eyes, he noticed that everything around him was undulating, distorting irregularly when he entered the Metaverse, although what he saw was different: pink nebulas of different colors took over the whitish gray space, completely taking over the entire space, being immersed in a strange scary and unknown landscape.

Ren felt restless, anguished at what was going on, thinking it might be a hallucination because of the stress product he had ... but he wasn't.

He had died in the Velvet Room when he ordered his execution, assuming that everything he saw was real.

_**"We feel your despair, human"**_

Ren was startled, scared and fearful; the voices had come out of nowhere, invisible and attractive, making him shiver.

_**"We know that you have been through many hardships in your old life; a simple puppet of your own destiny"**_

He noticed that there were four that spoke to him, which had a different intonation when speaking in unison.

**_"You thought that your purpose in life was to be free from your perpetual imprisonment, but you saw the harsh reality in front of your eyes."_ **

The first voice was scholarly, like that of a wise master of the occult.

**_"You fought against all the enemies you've encountered on your way, without knowing that your greatest opponent was yourself."_**

The second voice was that of a warrior shown in anger, whose tone was that of thunder.

_**"You saw how society began to corrode from the inside until it rotted, victim of its own disease of corruption"**_

the third voice was viscous, greedy and sickly when he spoke.

_**"Your feeling for providing a better future for others was only a blinding illusion of your own ambition to be the savior ... until you managed to see the true hidden faces of those you swore to protect"** _

The last voice was sensual and lustful, both That made him feel a sense of sexual attraction.

The nebulae rippled, moving like hurricanes to form in stormy times, describing four silhouettes as they piled up in various masses, and Ren knew that the bearers of the voices were manifesting, wanting to appear in front of him, and they did so when they finished manifesting ; revealing four imposing monstrous beings that escaped any hint of logic and psychological sanity.

They were terrifying ... they were gigantic ... they were like gods, demonic gods out of fantasy tales.

The first was a sturdy, muscular warrior, a hundred feet tall, equipped with a decorated metal armor made of overlapping plates made of brass and blackened iron. His rabid dog face was barely noticeable, although his twisted features are almost hidden by a baroque helmet decorated with skulls.

The second was a titanic body of flesh plagued with decay and pestilence. Its gigantic housing is full of corruption and exudes an overwhelming stench that made him gnaw the mind. Its skin is greenish, leathery and necrotic; its surface is abundant in fruitful blooms, swellings and infestations that Ren has seen ... not to mention that its gurgling organs are aligned with the decay excrement, spilling and dripping through its broken skin to hang like obscene fruit around its circumference.

The third was a huge humanoid with a grotesque shape and ungainly limbs. He has no head and his wrinkled face protrudes from the upper torso, while the other two were on both sides in the regions near his armpits, like one in his stomach. Above his eyes he has two gigantic long horns that seem to sprout from his shoulders instead of from his forehead. The horns Ren had glimpsed were meandering and flexible that end in horrifying faces. The light blue-dark skin is covered with faces and mouths that whisper to each other in an unintelligible language.

The last was a hermaphrodite being with a perfect body that defies the natural order of the universe; He was radiant and slender, with long limbs and great elegance, with a captivatingly androgynous beauty. His features were dazzling, impious and glorious with his feminine and masculine notes, leaving him stunned and flushed like a tomato. His hair falls in loops similar to pure gold, and by the grab of two pairs of black horns that are born on his forehead. The dress of the hermaphrodite deity is that of a shiny mesh shirt, trimmed with velvet and jewels of indescribable decay and beauty.

Ren felt intimidated by the appearance of the four mysterious deities that manifested themselves in the plane of the beyond, and it could be said that his presences made him shiver with horror, as if dying was not the worst thing that happened to him in his unfortunate life.

_**"We are the Ruinous Powers,"** _the blue deity formally introduced himself, "_**the supreme rulers of the Warp and we compose them the flow of Chaos. My name is Tzeentch, master of magic and manipulations. These are my brothers: Khorne, Nurgle and Slaanesh, which we form as the Great Gods of Chaos. We have felt your despair and your hatred through the astral planes in coming to your aid."**_

"... My help?" Ren questioned, arming himself with a frown. "Why do you want to help me? I am not interested in doing favors with dimensional entities, let alone the demonic side."

_**"You're wrong, human,"**_ Khorne told him in a storm-like intonation, pointing at him with his gloved iron hand. _**"You try to suppress your emotions in spite of the hatred you still possess within yourself. I can feel the anger and rage that you repress against the world ... you want to make them suffer ... you want to take revenge, and that is my specialty; in granting my power in those who swear revenge of their aggressors"**_

Ren kept silent without looking at them or a word.

_**"Aww, how cute you are when you get angry, honey,"** _Slaanesh said with a sweet and warm purr that made him shiver. _**"With that attitude of yours, it only makes us more interested. Don't deny it, Ren Amamiya, former leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart"**_

Ren let out a choked voice when the hermaphrodite deity learned of his ex-trade that he had renounced in the underworld. Even so, he refused to answer, knowing that they were gods of another dimension, and the gods were characterized in having the ability of Omniscience according to mythological studies.

_**"You can't hide your grudge forever,"**_ Nurgle had said sympathetically. _**"We have seen how your life was meaningless after I had suffered that mishap when you wanted to help that girl from that political official on the night of the incident. Everyone had turned their backs on you, receiving contempt from your own parents and your caregiver upon arrival in the city as a temporary guest; you even received the same treatment in your new school when your file was revealed to everyone"**_

On that he could agree: Kamoshida had inquired into his transfer file to discredit his status with his criminal record exposed when he and Ryuji had escaped from his Palace with Morgana's help. In addition to that he did it to take pride in his false attitude of a good physical education teacher who cared for the welfare of his students, although he did it to gain power and sexually harass the girls, just as he did with Shiho ... But that was in the past, and just remembering it gave him antipathy in being involved in an absurd soap opera drama.

_**"You had thought that your double life in reforming the dark counterparts of humans could lift your mood and recover your lost faith ..."**_ Tzeentch took the word, _**"but you only managed to see the hidden side of others as that time advanced, revealing the hidden facets of your classmates and those who had gone through difficult times"**_

Ryuji was a stupid ape who was only carried away by his idiocy and his big mouth that always lied to them in trouble; Ann was a bitch in every sense of a strong and independent feminist with few brains and a temper so irritating that she hid it in a mask of innocence; Makoto was a stubborn stubborn woman with a superiority complex as the daughter of a police officer but with a flaw so serious that she hides it without anyone noticing; Haru only showed the appearance of fragility like a flower, but she was pure poison inside; Futaba was a hikkikomori soquet that she only annoys with her traumatic delusions; Yusuke is only interested in painting and drawing his own works without caring about being among friends; Morgana was an egotistical and despotic bastard who only benefited from others in his obsession with becoming human and maybe fucking Ann happily ... his group was the worst that society has ever given birth to.

... The rest of the other outcasts who used them as Confidents to strengthen their powers, were only covered with tubes that sometimes filled in frames without continuity: Sae Niijima and Goro Akechi were on the list of the most undesirable that the world could have given birth

_**"But ..."** _Tzeentch continued talking when he arrived in a dramatic part, **_"... and if you want me to tell you that your choice when receiving the Metaverse navigation application was a simple ploy?"_**

Ren was surprised and asked the Destiny Architect what he knew.

_**"You want to know?"**_

He nodded insistently and anxiously, and Tzeentch gladly revealed the whole truth through a spell that enveloped him in a mystical trance, as all the information gradually revealed itself.

When it was all over, Ren never felt so disgusted since his prosecution: Philemon and Nyarlatothep's commitment to using humans as pawns in his game to using the Velvet Room as a receiver where all future Wildcards would be used as toys, the secret of the Syndrome of Apathy on Port Island, the events of Inaba, Yaldabaoth controlling all the threads of his villain cliche plan, Akechi's revenge against daddy Shido ... and crap for the revelations.

With everything he had processed, a sense of darkness manifested in his inner emptiness; I wanted revenge, I wanted to destroy the Earth along with the humans and the gods in it.

He was no longer interested in saving in a race destined for destruction, but in promoting destruction from within without being seen.

_**"Then ..."** _Tzeentch replied, both he and his brothers smiling wickedly. _**"Do you agree to help yourself?"**_

A decisive and determined look was shown in the boy's eyes ... a look that meant many things, and one of them was the opportunity to readjust the pending accounts.

"... I acept"

* * *

Ren Amamiya's eyes had opened sleepily.

_"Soon we will arrive at Shibuya-gai Station"_ spoke the electronic voice to all passengers who were inside the train, _"you are grateful that all luggage is at hand"_

The deities returned him at the time where it had all begun with a simple trip on the train on his arrival in the metropolitan city of Japan; He would make sure that everything had to follow according to the plans when the train started to park at the station and that all passengers left. The first thing was to arrive, stay at the Leblanc and plan on the decisions he was going to make.

The Trickster of Hope in which Igor and the twins placed their hopes had died, and the Trickster of the Chaos Gods resurfaced.

* * *

**Another thing to emphasize: the Gods of Chaos are in the W40k universe, since Tzeentch had glimpsed in the veil of the dimensions his joke with his brothers.**

**Will not open help from the Imperium of Mankind, or the Emperor, or the Eldar, or any faction: the characters of P5 will be alone.**

**See you in the next chapter. **


	2. Chapter 2

**I bring you the continuation of the chapter. I hope you like them and don't forget to leave a comment and constructive criticism of the story.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

The train had parked in the indicated place as it had previously in its first time when all reality had been rewound by the alteration of its new masters. Passengers left the cargo, conglomerated in lines as they always did in working hours, which is usually the custom in Japan as an economist and trade country. Ren ascended the stairs in the normal way, taking with him his backpack and his clothing that he wore on his arrival in the city.

After leaving the station, he began to walk down the street crowded with people who were walking from one place to another like ants in an underground colony; some crossed the avenues, others walked with their friends or coworkers enjoying the day off. The buildings stood like gleaming towers through their windows, the shops and stores were full, the vehicular traffic was calm ... the normal thing for the big cities that made up the countries of the world in which many inhabitants reside, be they immigrants or those who have been raised in it.

When Ren advanced into the city center, his touch phone rang, and to his joyous surprise, the Metaverse Navegitor had appeared in the app log. With a smile hooked from ear to ear, he pressed it, and everything around him had stopped; the people, the cars, the flying birds ... everything had stopped in a supernatural way that made an impression.

In the distance, among the sea of paralyzed people half-walking, blue fathoms manifested themselves in the middle of the frozen crowd.

The blue flames had taken a pattern to that of a slim, shouldered figure, different from that of Arsene who had her wings and top hat, but that manifestation of her psyche was different: the blue fathoms changed to that of a pink one dark, and sinister blood-red eyes opened on his oval burning face. He had the vision again of releasing his Persona at the Kamoshida Palace, albeit with a different twist ... quite sinister ... and evil.

Ultimately, he had made a deal with the Gods of Chaos under destroying his former companions and all the filth that made up Shibuya.

Earth and its inhabitants would perish in the heinous fires of eternal damnation ... Wildcard users and cognitive entities would be exterminated ... no one would stop their thirst for revenge ... the time would come to attack.

* * *

After the time returned to normal, and the citizens did not notice the strange event, Ren continued his walk as the normal teenager who would not "hurt" a fly.

It was not necessary to use the GPS application of your cell phone to guide you; he knew where the Yogen-Jaya district was by having the memory fresh in his mind.

He turned some corners, traversed the intercepts that had led him to urban areas with pedestrian activity, until he reached his destination.

The Yongen-Jaya residential district remained the same: a narrow residential area that ran along a long avenue that divided into nooks and crannies that converged with other urban areas. On both sides were houses with their own businesses next to each other. The bicycles were locked in their respective places; the cobblestones passed through the avenues from one place to another, he even saw Tae Takemi pass him as he walked; She did not know him when all reality was rewritten, but he did ... although he would save himself the trouble of never visiting her, neither to diagnose himself nor to interfere in helping her to clear her name.

Two businesses later, he found the open Leblanc Cafe with two older customers sitting at a second table and Sojiro Sakura himself sitting in a chair doing crossword puzzles in the newspaper. In the news channel there was talk of the mental closings with the accident of an overturned bus on a railway with passengers inside: Goro Akechi was doing his thing in Mementos in his pathetic undercover plan of personal revenge against Shido. He would make sure that both of them die as cruelly and slowly as possible.

"How scary ..." the client had said.

"What is going on?" replied the woman, unhappy. "Didn't something similar happen just the other day? This is so weird ..."

Ren did murmured a growl that did not give him away to attract attention: just what was happening was something that one had to get used to the various mysterious calamities that are manipulated by entities born from the distorted flow of negative emotions that shaped humanity. The Dark Hour was an example appropriate to mental closings.

"The vertical is ... the name of a shellfish used to grow pearls ..." Sojiro was still indifferent in his ignorance of crossword puzzles, something Ren saw in him ... even when he considered him a father, but no longer it is.

When the owner noticed the presence of his guest, he put down his crossword puzzles to find the shellfish that pearls provide and got up from his chair.

"They said today was the day," said Sojiro when he saw him out of the corner of his eye.

"We're leaving," said the older male customer, as did the woman. "The money is on the table. This place is in the alley, so here we have no worries that a car will crash"

"And now?" Sojiro asked him questioningly.

"There has been a chain of those riotous accidents, you know," the older man continued speaking. "I just hope nothing happens around here. We'll see you next time"

The couple left the room, leaving them alone.

"So ... are you Ren?" he said, letting out a groan, and the latter nodded to him silently, to which the owner spoke again: "I am Sojiro Sakura. You will be under my care for the next year. I was wondering what kind of rebellious boy will appear, is it you? Mmm. Have you heard? A client of mine and your parents know each other and ... "

Ren knew beforehand the story of how his parents met at the Leblanc, and he was indifferent to hearing something that didn't matter when it all fell to destruction. Their masters would be happy to see this world burn.

Sojiro accompanied him to the attic as he went up the stairs.

"This is your room," he said, gesturing to the spacious square area surrounded by boxes, plateaus, sacks, and gas cylinders. The sofa, the bed, the work table and the dining table were in their respective places ... everything was in its place: messy. In the center was her box full of her belongings "At least I'll give you sheets for the bed. It seems like you want to say something"

"... Is big"

"It is," Sojiro agreed, scratching his hair. "It is up to you to clean up the rest. I will leave after closing every day. You will be alone during the night, but do not do anything stupid. I will kick you out if you cause problems" he gave her a look of understanding. "I understand the meaning of your situation: you protected a woman from a man who forced her against him, he was injured, and he sued you, right? That's what you get for sticking your nose in a matter between two adults, what You hit, right? ... And now that you have a criminal record, you were kicked out of your own institute. The courts ordered you to be transferred and moved here, which your parents also approved. In other words, they got rid of you for being a pain in the ass"

He had to suppress a thirst for rage when he heard the last word squawked by the stupid old man who thought he was doing it with humor, but he was risking his life; He would gladly take him to where his precious Wakaba was.

"It is better that you do not talk about anything unnecessary" he spoke seriously. "I am the owner of this restaurant, you know. Behave this year. If nothing happens, your parole will be lifted."

"... A whole year doing nothing," Ren commented in a calm tone, hiding a hate that burned inside him to see everything around him being swallowed by the Ruinous Powers.

"It causes any problems, and you will be sent straight to the correctional facility," said Sojiro. "We will go to Academic Shujin tomorrow"

Ren nodded at him; there he would meet one-on-one with his ex-friends as they began their first day in second grade. Makoto would be his guide who would show him the style he had to wear, while Kamoshida would continue to abuse Physical Education students. Everything would be square when it was time to make some changes.

"Rarely would they accept someone like you, well you will understand me ..." his tone turned into one of annoyance. "What a waste of Sunday"

Ren restrained himself from insulting his face.

"Your luggage arrived early; there it is" with that he was left alone, not even realizing that he was receiving a withering and ruthless look from the boy with deep hatred.

With a catch of air that he then exhaled to the last, Ren began to rearrange his miserable residential room again: stacks of notebooks on the shelf, boxes and sacks in the pantry, he arranged the bed neatly, swept the wooden floor with a broom lying around it, cleaned the windows with a foil on the ceiling and on the windows. Everything was impeccable in just a few seconds.

"What has happened?" Sojiro had replied as he ascended the stairs. "I heard you make kind of noises, but I didn't think you were cleaning" He peered around the neat and tidy space, a smile peeking out of his corners. "Now this place doesn't seem to look that bad. Although it's natural that you want to have your room tidy. Why don't you go to bed for today? You don't have anything better to do now, right? I'm going to close the store and I'll be out of here soon. I don't want to be held responsible if you get sick from staying up too late, understand?"

Ren watched him go down the steps until he disappeared; He listened as he closed the door and passed him safely through the lock.

Being finally alone, Ren let out a deep growl of anger: how much he really hated that old man, his deal with him is for just washing his hands regardless of his well-being. He did not accommodate anything, but had to do it himself.

In the past he understood resignation for being a teenager with criminal problems, but now everything is different during his rebirth at the restart of Earth. She no longer respected him, but a profound contempt for treating him like the scum he was, a dead weight on his shoulders.

He frowned as he remembered that Futaba's hikkomori had several cameras that monitored the Leblanc from his locked room with all the screens of his computer observing him as a strange being ... then he would take care of destroying them, but first he had to have lunch to nourish his body. He uncapped the adhesive that wrapped the package; he opened it, pulled out an electric cooker, and plugged it into a nearby outlet; He put an iron bowl on the hot stove, put the water in, and waited for it to heat up. After minutes, Ren was quietly eating his instant noodle soup that relaxed him from the stress of being at Shujin Academy, and that meant he had to put up with the dramas that were about to start.

After they had finished dinner, Ren changed his clothes as he sorted the luggage from the box and from his backpack. He lay back on the firm white-lined bed, pulled the sheets halfway up his body, and let sleep take him to sleep.

* * *

Dreams began to form in the vast darkness of his mind like the smoke that evoked an epiphany from a past life ... a life he hated where the calamity had begun: a drunk Masayoshi Shido dragging against his will a helpless woman who he was crying out for help. It was that same night that Ren decided to interfere in something that would risk his life, and it was when they took him handcuffed by two policemen when they put him in the car. The judge found him guilty for the crime of violence and assault against a government official, granting him an almost condemned pressure if it were not for the payment his parents had made to get him out of there ... although to his misfortune he received cold looks, accusations hints, insults and the contempt of their own parents for not believing the truth.

The world had betrayed him ... the woman he rescued did not help him testify in the jury ... his life had been completely ruined by the stupidity of helping an innocent person ... he was doomed to suffer for the rest of eternity ... an innocent incriminated by the blind justice of the law.

Ren woke up, startled by the painful memories of that night that ruined his image. Rubbing his eyes with his hand, Ren wondered that what he was seeing was a wall with a dark blue lining when he sharpened his gaze, and to his surprise it was really, as was his room being reduced to a small space with a toilet close to half a meter where he was sitting on his bed. His clothing was replaced by white clothing with black stripes ... the clothing of a prisoner locked in a cell, and not just any cell, but his mental representation inside his heart.

He was in the Velvet Room.

Ren quietly got up from the bed, resting both handcuffed hands on the black bars that adorned the door.

"I see you woke up," an older, bald man with a long nose and a dark formal suit had said with interest and curiosity, scrutinizing him with his eyes wide and bloodshot. Her voice was deep and husky as she stared at him, judging him, sitting at a desk with his arms crossed and a glowing whitish yellow lighting.

Ren remained calm, silent, trying not to express any negative emotion towards the man ... No, the thing that was; a clay figure created through magic to express what life is, and also a bait for poor souls in disgrace who would be used in a senseless war against the self-destruction of humanity.

Philemon's favorite toy, Igor, but at this moment it would be Yaldabaoth who was talking to him through his gestalt after capturing the Velvet Room and uniting it with the Metaverse as part of his unfortunate plan that did not deserve to be explained as it does not transcend anything for the plot.

He saw the twins standing at the two ends, whose eyes were fixed on him, studying him.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room, Trickster" Igor was formally introduced in his state of possession by the God of Control, "a place located between dream and reality, mind and matter. My name is Igor, I am the owner of this establishment that changes its shape according to how the individual feels emotionally and internally. What you see is the firm representation that your heart captures: a prisoner locked in the chains of eternal damnation. You have much regret, you seek meaning in your life after that incident occurred. Feel happy, as you will have a second chance through your rehabilitation. Now, the reason I brought you here is to talk about an important matter, which implies your own life"

"... Which?" Ren replied calmly without showing any negative thoughts in his speech.

The puppet looked at him in great detail, an eerie glint of amusement gleaming in his eyes. The two girls looked at him curiously, which Ren ignored without minding their miserable existence.

"Hmmm ... very calm and reserved, even though you don't show any startles" he let out a hoarse laugh. "You are interesting, Trickster. You see, in the near future, all corruption will gobble up the foundations of civilization."

"... Corruption?" Human nature was self-destructive, a time bomb that was about to explode at the least indicated moment. Saving a race that was destined to follow that path was not worth the risk in trying to save it.

"A calamity looming over humanity from the earliest beginnings," the Gestalt specified. "There is a way to oppose that fate. It must be rehabilitated, rehabilitated towards freedom. This is the only way to avoid corruption ... do you have the determination to challenge the distortion of the world?"

"... I am" Of course he had it ... but to destroy it instead of saving it. The Ruinous Powers would see to it that everything burned with flames.

The puppet that was Igor gave him a terrifying smile.

"Admirable determination, an excellent potential I see in you. I will observe the progress of your rehabilitation"

The two girls took two steps forward as a soldier by standing firm.

"Ah, forgive me for not introducing myself to them. To your right is Caroline, and to your left is Justine. They both serve as guardians here."

"... Try and fight as hard as you can" Caroline said sternly, holding her stick firmly.

"... The duty of the guards is to watch over the prisoners," Justine had said in a calm and soft voice, carrying her briefcase with her. "We are also your helpers, that if you remain obedient"

Ren nodded silently, holding back his hatred that he processed towards the two bitches for the mistreatment and abuse he constantly suffered when he always came to the Velvet Room; Caroline beat her with her cane without mercy, while Justine watched him without any sign of pity in her golden eye ... he hated them with all her soul ... he wanted to see them dead and dismembered.

He knew that, in the revelations given by Tzeentch, the twins were the two halves of Lavenza, their true guide when Yaldabaoth fractured her after the takeover of the place. The two halves had amnesia, unaware that they had been a single being, and that their master had been possessed by an entity created from human distortion.

"I will explain the function of those two in another occasion" the gestalt took the word again, and the two girls turned around. "So, it looks like the night is over ... It's almost time. Take your time so that you gradually come to understand this place. We will see each other again eventually ..." He snapped his fingers, and the alarm went off, meaning it was time to go back to bed; to which Ren accomplished it by lying on the surface and placing his head on the pillow, feeling how everything began to distort.

* * *

Ren's eyelids fluttered lazily as he adjusted his vision to the warm morning light that bathed the entire room. He groaned and got quietly out of bed; he had his first encounter with possessed Igor and the two guard bitches, which would specify that his power to summon his Persona could be realized when it came to awaken him in the dungeon at Kamoshida Palace. He was anxious if a new Persona would be different from Arsene when he had the vision of that figure wrapped in the burning coals that made up the Warp ... he would wait at the right moment to invoke him.

After getting dressed and having breakfast, Ren left with Sojiro to the car where they crossed an entire highway with high vehicular activity in the following turns until they reached the Aoyama-Itchome district. Sojiro parked in a corner, and they had both got out of the car. A shudder of hatred ran through his entire body as he contemplated the unpleasant school he had to repeat again ... how he hated that place, but it was his duty to do his part in making everything go according to plan.

The Shujin Academy had remained the same since the rewinding; a rectangular building with two floors and a terrace where the botanical gardens were that Haru frequented in hydrating the plants with water. It was very spacious with several classrooms and a gym where sports were held, as well as its own training ground.

After entering the interior of the institution, both walked to the director Kobayakawa's office where Sojiro signed the documents. Ren spotted Kawakami with her sleepy face tired from work as a maid; she knew what her situation was, and he would put it to good use as a servant in cleaning her room like a slave while reforming those responsible for bothering her.

"We repeat" had said the robust director of the institution who gave him a severe look. "Just to be clear, if you cause any problems you will be expelled immediately. I honestly hesitated to accept someone like you, but there were some circumstances on our side ..." Lie, it was Yaldabaoth himself who did it to keep him under surveillance in a classroom full of students with personal problems where he would observe his development as a vigilante. No one is saved from the gaze of Tzeentch, the Architect of Destiny. "Maybe you did a lot of things by hiding in your hometown, but you will behave here. If you are expelled from our school, you will have nowhere to go. Keep that in mind."

_'Says the director who covers up a former volleyball Olympian who sexually abuses the girls and suppresses the boys until leaving them half-dead with serious fatalities that almost killed them to preserve an impeccable image of the Shujin Academy as the best. Silencing parents 'concerns and heavily arming faculty and most students quietly on the matter ... not to mention that he's involved in Shido's network to win his favor, you piece of shit,'_ Ren thought with bitter hatred as he nodded. nod at the warnings.

"This is the teacher in charge of your class" he gestured towards her.

"My name is Sadayo Kawakami" she introduced herself in a sleepy tone from her second secret job. "Here's your student ID," she put it on the desk, and Ren grabbed it. "Be sure to read the school rules. Any violation will send you straight to the principal's office. And, if for any reason you get into trouble, I won't be able to protect you at all." She turned her gaze to the obese principal. "Is that your word, director Kobayakawa?"

"He will be responsible for all his actions" he said with simplicity.

"But nevertheless, why me? There should have been better candidates," Kawakami said dejectedly, which Ren started with in a thousand and one ways to make life impossible for him to be his servant.

"It was a sudden transfer, and your class was the only one with a part available."

"If you have finished explaining things" Sojiro replied with a sigh, "does that mean we can go? I have a store to return to"

"Mister Sakura, please keep an eye on him" Kobayakawa advised. "Don't let him cause any problems outside"

"Okay" Sojiro agreed, "I will have a serious talk with him about the situation he is in"

Kawakami sighed, and said:

"Come to the teachers' lounge when you get to school tomorrow. I'll show you where your class is"

With everything arranged, the two of them had left the office and started walking down the hallway that led to the entrance.

"They treat you like you're some kind of nuisance ..." Sojiro muttered, scratching his head. "I suppose that is what it means to have a criminal record. It seems that your past follows you wherever you go. By the way ... if you are expelled now, I would not hesitate to kick you out, do you understand?"

"... Yes" Ren told him, hiding his anger with him and the others who treated him like a scum of evil; Receiving ill-treatment again made him open his newly opened wounds due to the lack of empathy for an alleged innocent. If you had a criminal record and told someone that you did nothing wrong, they did not believe you, but they would hate you like the plagues you are, they would treat you like a true criminal who deserved to be eliminated.

The judicial system was corrupt ... the whole society where the innocent pay for the evils of others was decaying ... the human being was the plague itself that deserved to be eliminated, and would ensure it with the forces of the Chaos of his side.

* * *

The caretaker and guest duo with a criminal record had arrived at the Leblanc in the late afternoon due to highway traffic that was caused by an accident where the bus overturned violently, provided by the mental shutdowns of the mentally ill Goro Akechi.

"Damn it," Sojiro blurted out from the stress of the trip, "to think there would be so much traffic ... What a waste of time. I'm afraid I won't be able to open the cafe today ... whatever. Just go up those stairs. there is something I have that I want to give you"

Ren knew what the gift was going to be, but he said nothing and went up the stairs to the attic.

"They talk about a horrible accident; eighty people were involved," he quoted reading the news on his phone; He put it in his pocket and took out a small pocket notebook. "This is a journal. Be sure to write in it every day." He put it down on the metal desk. "You may be on probation, but there are special limitations on what you do in particular. Other than following the law, of course. However, I am required to report on you, so I will have you write down your daily activities."

The phone rang in his pocket; he took it out of his pocket and put it to his ear.

Ren was silent without moving, watching as Sojiro spoke to the broker on the phone from the other line. I knew it was Youji Isshiki, Futaba's uncle, a bastard son of a bitch who was extorting Sojiro who paid him weekly money to pay his outstanding debts with powerful people in the underworld of society ... would kill him without hesitation, remembering when he tried to attack Sojiro, but he accidentally slipped, running away pretending to be assaulted ... he wanted to see him dead instead of reforming him

Another thing he had to emphasize about his caretaker was that a former government official who had resigned upon learning of the existence of the Metaverse and of other activities that had occurred in Japan. He selfishly adopted Futaba by atoning for his sins by mocking Wakaba in a cynical joke of his possible death, and that was accomplished under the action of Masayoshi Shido after taking over the Metaverse.

He was no longer interested in fixing his relationship between stepfather and stepdaughter ... that was part of his past when he embraced the absolute truth of the Ruinous Powers.

"Well ..." Sojiro said after finishing the phone conversation, "I will close the store, so do whatever you want for the rest of the night. Oh, but don't mess up my store. If something is lost, I'll deliver you directly to the police, okay?"

Ren suppressed the anger that boiled over him because of the hostility and the threat his caretaker gave him ... how very despicable and miserable he was.

"You have to go to school tomorrow" he continued saying: "You better go to bed, understand?"

Sojiro left him alone when he locked the door until the entire venue was frozen in deep silence.

He clenched his teeth tightly, letting out a growl like a wild animal, while clenching both hands into fists. He didn't want to cry out and curse him, knowing that Futaba was still watching him from the hidden cameras ... Although he decided to do it anyway by going down the stairs and scanning the contours of his surroundings.

He found them and destroyed them, both on the low level and in the attic.

Finally being completely free of harassing glances, Ren began to curse Sojiro with all his guarded fury.

The phone in the lower area rang, and Ren had to go with a boiling anger: it was Sojiro, asking him to put the sign from open to closed, which he did anyway, and then go to his room and sleep ... Tomorrow he would meet Ann at the bus stop in the drizzle, like the depraved Kamoshida and Ryuji ... how he really hated those people.

He wanted to see you all dead.

* * *

He did not appear in the Velvet Room in his dreams when he lay down on the bed to sleep, but on the same hazy wasteland with the four spectral manifestations of the Ruinous Powers of the Warp.

_**"Your blood and anger anxiety is latent inside you, human"** _Khorne said with macabre delight in his voice._** "You are desperate to see them die under your hands, and I love that of those who swear to spill blood in battle"**_

_**"... Although that moment will have to wait"** _Tzeentch replied to his brother, and concentrated on Ren._** "Your power to summon your new Personae has been improved; you will soon see it when you are in the Palace of the sports coach"**_

Ren showed a respectful inclination to his masters.

"... I will make sure everything goes according to plan. I will not fail, masters."

There were monstrous, insane laughter from the Warp rulers.

_**"Tomorrow is when he meets that girl at the stop ... Ann Takamaki"** _Slaanesh's word sounded like an erotic purr, then he frowned._** "... including that first friend of yours, Ryuji Sakamoto"**_

Ren understood the displeasure of the demonic hermaphrodite deity regarding the rough and explosive demeanor of that jerk who nearly fractured the Phantom Thieves team when arguing with Morgana, gave him a grudge just remembering him.

_**"Patience is a virtue, young,"**_ Nurgle had said to him in a parental tone similar to that of a father, advising his son gently and delicately, better than Sojiro._** "The time to fulfill your revenge is near. Form the team one by one, and then you will kill them all ... Their faces will be beautiful when they infect my diseases!"**_

The three entities and the human looked at him with blank expressions.

_**"Anyway ..."** _added Tzeentch hitting him straight to the point,_** "you'll have to do everything from scratch to earn their trust with both of them in the formation of the Phantom Thieves ... without excluding two axioms on stage"**_

"... What?" Ren said confused.

_**"During the alteration of reality,"** _the deity of manipulations and change explained._** "The two new components have been interestingly annexed. They both have regrets about their past deeds, believing that this new opportunity will allow them to redeem themselves from their sins. I will soon give you their names, but first you must fulfill your mission in following guides of Yaldabaoth and the Philemon puppet. Successfully fulfill the requirement, and we will give you our divine blessings to make you powerful"**_

Ren bowed again.

"... So it will be done"

With that, everything around him began to distort until he succumbed to darkness.

* * *

After having returned his astral body to the physical body, Ren prepared to start his first day of classes at Shujin; He put on his clothes, his pants, his shoes and his bag with all the pencils and notebooks inside. He said goodbye to Sojiro after having finished his dead lover's curry for breakfast. He had grabbed an umbrella out there knowing that Shibuya's weather was going to change, the first time he hadn't carried it when it was time to leave, but in this altered reality he would do his best to change it.

He walked down the avenues until he reached the Yongen-Jaya Subway; he got into the train and waited three hours to park at the next station. The doors of the train opened, and Ren left from there at a hurried pace through the subway crowded with employees, businessmen and workers of all kinds. He took a direction that led him up the stairs, leading him out of the subway and into the outside of Shibuya Square Station. He walked through the shops, stores, and stores amidst a sea of people when he reached the Ginza Gate Line.

At the station, Shujin students were waiting for the train, at least he did not feel alone, but he was attentive to the appearance of the two mysterious individuals that Tzeencth had spoken to him.

Were you exchange students? In that it may be possible, since the only exchange students is him and Ann, that others would come could be the work of Yaldabaoth to test him if he had enough courage and determination to save humanity from its destruction ... that already I would see it.

The yellow train had arrived, and everyone entered until it was completely full.

A red-haired teenage girl tied to a ponytail with one and ruby eyes wearing the institution's clothes gave her seat to an elderly woman in a polite way, but a man had taken it from her. The red-haired girl asked the man to get up, but he pretended to sleep as a defense strategy. The red-haired girl was embarrassed, but the old lady kindly told her that she has been generous in helping her.

Ren hid his smile at the scene he was watching, turned his head towards the window, avoiding not to draw the attention of the red-haired girl or one of the students. It was so much fun to watch.

Everyone inside the train had exited when they reached the station that connected to the Aoyama-Itchome district. The raindrops descended like lead bullets fired from above, the sky had turned a dark gray and the rumble of thunder was minimal. The students rushed in not to get wet while carrying their umbrellas.

Ren turned off his cell phone when he observed that the Metaverse application had appeared; This time she wanted this to be different when he was late for his first day of class. She would stay where she was with her parasol tucked away in her bag without seeing the public eye. He would wait for Ann, then Kamoshida, and lastly Ryuji.

He waited with his hands tucked in his pockets with a calm, relaxed expression for Ann to appear in the right place ... but she thought about it for a moment; Was it worth waiting for those two blondes to re-commemorate the good old days while fooling around on their first day of class? He brought with him his umbrella that was stored in his backpack, since in his old timeline he had to wait for the rain to camp, but in this new opportunity, Ren decided not to waste something he had lost.

If he left the stop, perhaps he would get to Shujin before the doors closed, avoiding being notified as retarded. If he came to school before Kamoshida, he might not expose his reputation as a juvenile delinquent.

There was the possibility that he would threaten him if he didn't do what he was told, but patience was a virtue: he had the Navigator on his phone, which gave him a clear advantage in subduing the perverted coach when he would forcefully reform him with the use of your new Persona.

With the decision made, Ren looked for the umbrella that was stored; He opened it with the click of his button, and began to walk down the rain-covered sidewalk.

Not having lasted an hour of walking since she was almost a few kilometers from arriving at the school with the time exhausted, Ann made her appearance by jogging beside him and asking her if she could accompany him. Ren nodded, and the two of them started walking calmly.

In his perspective of the encounter with the philanish girl, it seemed to him very different from how it had been in the removed past; At their first meeting, he had been fooled by her beautiful foreign beauty, but now, he was only displeased and indifferent to her pretty appearance when she took off her hood. There was no surprise when she looked at him, but rather a deep disinterestedness that did not amuse him in knowing of his personal appearance. Slaanesh was far superior in beauty and elegance than any girl on Earth.

After an hour's walk, Kamoshida's car passed in front of them. Ann hid on her left side, preventing her from being recognized after putting her hood back on; the gesture was one of a kind when Kamoshida discovered her by slowing down her car.

"Ann? Is that you, Ann?"

Ren saw Ann swallow hard, she was shaking and moaning in fear of being next to the perverted coach again. Ren would make a noble move to help her, but not wanting to repeat that experience that led to a criminal record, he decided not to participate in protecting her.

Ann sighed, she took off her hood, she turned to the pervert coach who was pretending to have a pleasant smile on her lips, and she walked towards him.

"Shall I give you a ride to school?" Kamoshida said with all good innocence. "It's raining, you would get cold if you don't go in"

"Huh ... Hmmm ... yeah, I'm coming ..." Ann said, trembling as she entered the passenger seat. She shot Ren a desperate look, pleading for help, but the boy ignored the message expressed in his facial expression as he continued walking.

"Hey!" Kamoshida called him. "Where are you going? Why don't you come with us? It will be easier to get to school early without getting wet"

"No thanks a lot" Ren denied the offer. "I have little time to get to class"

"Sure? But, the rain is very stormy this time."

'The torment days are always the same in a dead society' thought the boy with poison.

"I appreciate your kindness, but I insist that I will be on time"

"If you say so" Kamoshida started the car when looking through the rearview mirror at the walking figure of Ryuji Sakamoto who was running towards him as a psychopath.

"Shit!" the vulgar blonde growled. "Damn it, that fucking bastard lost it!"

Ren frowned as he heard his curses fade into thin air as he walked.

"Wait wait!" he yelled, approaching as he jogged. "Could you come with you? I just don't want to get wet, since I had forgotten my umbrella when I thought it wasn't going to rain"

"... Of course," Ren shrugged nonchalantly as he rolled his eyes to his annoyance at being accompanied by the idiot who was his first friend in Shibuya. He already wanted to see the city burn.

"Thank you!" The vulgar blonde said, hoping to find a good person to help him. "It was a bother not to bring mine; I don't want to catch a cold when classes start. By the way, I saw you talk to Kamoshida"

"Kamoshida?" Ren lied. "You mean the guy who was driving the car?"

"That same one" Ryuji said sourly. "That bastard struts around the whole school like he's the king of his own castle. He's a perverted bastard who doesn't deserve to be the coach"

"... She gave a girl a ride. I refused when she was kind enough to take me to Shujin. I think he called the girl Ann, or something like that"

"Ann?" Ryuji asked as he raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, didn't the girl have platinum blonde hair and light blue eyes, that beautiful beauty?"

"... yes"

"... Oh man" Ryuji snorted. "Too bad she is immersed in the gossip ... even that her attitude always ends up getting her in trouble. And besides, your face doesn't make me familiar, are you new?"

"Yes," said the boy seriously, "I am the exchange student"

"Ah! You're the new one Kawakami has taken over. My name is Ryuji Sakamoto"

"... Ren Amamiya" introduced himself formally. "Tell me, Ryuji, why don't you tell me about Kamoshida; we have plenty of time while we almost arrived. A conversation would keep us in a mood"

* * *

**This introductory chapter marks the beginning of the formation of the Phantom Thieves and some changes to the plot. I put Kasumi in a cameo where he will have a leading role, like Takuto Maruki ... as meat for the slaughterhouse, like Sae, Akechi, Shido and Yaldabaoth.**

**See you in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**I want to thank people for the contribution of reading this story and leaving their criticisms, I thank them very much.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

**Both franchises belong to their respective owners.**

* * *

The conversation she had with Ryuji while walking had been the same since the first time she met him at the stop; Kamoshida was a bastard who mistreated boys in Physical Education classes to make them strong when it comes to competing in championships with other schools, without caring about imposing physical punishment on students who do not follow the rules, in addition to harassing girls in a sadistic and lustful way ... it was no wonder of human perversity.

Time had yielded to both of them when they saw that the academy was still open; the doors of the entrance to the Shujin Academy were open, with the entrance hurried of the students who fled from the rain and took refuge inside; They spotted Kamoshida's car where he showed a false smile to those who were entering. Ann had entered, as had the red-haired girl he had seen on the train.

He ignored Kamoshida, except that Ryuji glared at him when they entered the interior, surrounded by students who were going to their respective classrooms.

Kawakami accompanied Ren to the 2-D classroom where Ann was incorporated (just like a wounded Yuuki Mishima), while Ryuji was in 2-E. I had also seen a

There were formal presentations of the typical self-introduction education to everyone else, catching gossip from the girls about seeing him handsome in glasses, while the boys saw him as a scholar or an athlete ... at least Kamoshida did not disclose the record. But it was only a matter of time before he did if he and Ryuji start investigating him to expose the abuse, which would not work at all.

The classes passed with total normality, correcting the response that he knew beforehand during the change of reality, receiving cheers from the students and responses from the teachers; Then came the Physical Education class where Kamoshida would greet him with balls when playing volleyball, and he was not intimidated by the ex-Olympian when he returned the gesture.

He was pleased to see Kamoshida's puzzled expression as he suppressed his failed attempts to make him look bad in front of everyone, and earned the track team's admiration for his agility and dexterity.

He knew that Kamoshida would keep an eye on him, but he ignored that threat, showing an expression of indifference and ignorance during the course of his stay at the academy, reading and studying in the library in his quiet and reserved exchange student disguise. , until he began to develop the plan to train the Phantom Thieves and awaken his new Persona that the Warp deities granted him.

Everything went according to plan at the end of classes; Ren correctly put the words into the app, allowing him and Ryuji to be sucked in when the Navigator was activated and teleported to the Palace.

Obviously the reaction Ryuji had taken was one of bewilderment and shock at seeing that everything had changed; the clouds, the sky, even the appearance of an imposing medieval castle where the Shujin Academy should have been was shocking enough for Ryuji's jaw. They entered the interior for the mere attraction of curiosity towards the unknown, observing with fascination the spacious room full of tiles, pillars with marbled details, golden chandeliers, cylindrical windows, a staircase adorned by a crimson carpet that ascended the stairs .. The perfect definition of what Kamoshida saw according to his own perfection: a powerful king who ruled his castle.

Shadows with knight appearances surrounded them when they saw them as intruders, pointing their halberds at them and taking defensive positions with raised shields. They beat them, carried them towards the depths of the castle where the smelly dungeons were; they were put in the cells and woke up at the last second when Shadow Kamoshida had visited them, looking superior, completely semi-naked, except for having his underwear, his cape and his crown on top of his fluffy hair.

The two Shadows held him against the wall, as he watched as Shadow Kamoshida hit Ryuji like a punching bag, bruising his face with the impact of his fists until he spat blood.

At that moment, when he saw with indifference that Ryuji received the beatings of the Shadow Being, something inside him had just awakened ... something new ... something dark.

_**"Hehehehe**** ... it seems my time has come, don't you think so, meister?"**_

That voice was not chivalrous and fair as Arsene was, but mocking and sickly, sadistic and evil.

_**"Everyone in this world believes they are superior in something. Everyone thinks they are special, but they are just simple cockroaches that walk among the corrupt rubbish of a rotten society"**_

Memories flooded her mind, memories of a life she hated, memories of an old self seeking justice, but she only got trash and toxic waste like abuse, finger pointing, rumors of being a monster, the real one. intention of his friends, the society in which he lived ... they all gave him the sword. His parents, his city, the people, his old school ... they all rejected him.

**_"The anger that you carry within you will be transformed into power when we find ourselves subject to this world before the true glory of Chaos. The Great Lords of the Warp will enjoy the poor souls ... they will all surrender the true horror that awaits them. And for proud of the gods for the power they have given us to see the Absolute Truth, we will offer them blood as a currency of payment"_**

The Ruinous Powers gave him a second chance to fulfill his goal against the world and against those he had considered "friends" or "companions", but it was his own ignorance that blinded him.

**_"... Well, do you accept the offer?"_**

"... I accept it" Ren replied with a firm and purposeful determination. A throbbing headache shook him, followed by a sense of pleasure and satisfaction as a surge of power enveloped him ... an aura of darkness and decay hung over the atmosphere of the cell, causing the Shadows and Ryuji himself to shudder. they were looking at spectators.

**_ "I am you, you are me. You who are willing to fulfill the promise to destroy this world under the new opportunity given by the Great Lords will have to be fulfilled. Call my name and we will be able to carry out the will of Chaos! The gods want sacrifices in their names! The Great Lords demand blood as tribute!"_**

Ren's face exploded in glowing purple nebulous embers, representing the contract made by the Ruinous Powers. His domino mask had formed, and with a sadistic smile, he ripped it off with uncontrollable euphoria that excited him in a lustful way. The blood drained from them, but they were healed by the coals, eating away at him completely, transforming his student uniform into his old Phantom Thieve clothing.

"Come out, Mephistopheles!" the reborn Trickster of Chaos roared as he summoned his mighty new Persona, a demonic, deformed being from Arsene, covered in a blood-red suit with ruffles on his shoulders, a crimson cloak rippling in an invisible wind, two jet-draped wings attached. on her back and extravagant ornaments of gold and diamonds of all kinds in her lace. His face was intimidating and terrifying, with curved horns pointing forward and a monstrous, ghastly mask-like centerpiece, the jaws of which were like a hungry dragon, and intense dagger-shaped eyes blazing from intense infernal fire. .

**_"I am Mephistopheles, the trickster demon of the innocent and the victorious who will triumph over the powerful"_**

Shadow Kamoshida, scared and terrified, cried out in a fearful way for his knights to attack him, only to see how they were exterminated in just a blink, to which he had no choice but to flee.

"... What?!" Ryuji exclaimed, still stunned and petrified by what he just saw.

"This is not the time to ask questions!" Ren barked at him as he lifted him forcibly. "We have to run away before he brings reinforcements"

"... Y-Yes ... Come on!" Ryuji replied, emerging from stupor and concentrating on running through the huge cave transformed into a dungeon along with the transfer student and his monster who served as defenders and guides.

* * *

During the long journey, made up of extensive routes that took them to other cells and Shadows that were knocked down in the process, Ren found the cell where Morgana was trapped with his atropormorphic and cartoonish form, the cognitive being created by Igor to be his guide in handling the Metaverse, though he no longer remembered that after Yaldabaoth erased his memory and locked him up to die and be executed.

"What is that thing!" Ryuji said, scared.

"Aren't you soldiers from this place?" Morgana asked. "Get me out of here! There are the keys!" He gestured to the hanging key.

"We are trying to get out of this damn place!" Ryuji snapped at him angrily, shooting him a sharp look. "I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too."

"I'm locked!" begged the cat. "How am I going to do the enemy? Help me ...!"

"... I will" Ren cut him with depth.

"What?!" Ryuji exclaimed incredulously. "Are you crazy? We don't know if we can believe him if that thing is going to betray us. Besides, you have that power to summon that monster when you tore off your mask"

"Monster? Mask?" Morgana's eyes widened. "Wait a minute, did you invoke your Persona?"

Before Ryuji could demand the meaning of the word spoken in Spanish in a mysterious way and without the inescapable logic of his carvenicultural mind, Ren replied:

"... Yes" he said with cold and icy seriousness. "I just summoned him when Kamoshida was going to kill us in the cell. My clothes just changed during my awakening"

"... Impossible" Morgana commented, stunned.

The cell door opened when the lock was removed, and Morgana began to stretch, happy that she had longed for freedom.

"... I know you are very happy to be outside" Ren caught his attention, "but it would be better if he helped us to escape; another summoner could use us"

"True!" Morgana nodded, and gestured for them to follow him down the hall, leaving behind empty dungeons and water channels flowing through the tributary that separated them from other paths.

They ran into a raised bridge that cut off their path, but Ren was quick to pull the jaw of a statue of Kamoshida next door. The bridge went down, and the three continued on their way. At the end they glimpsed a stone arch where it led them to another room, but this one was guarded by a Knight-shaped Shadow, which Ren killed without any mercy by invoking Mephistopheles who gave him a quick death.

Morgana was shocked and shocked by the Shadow's disgusting fate as he was "defeated" by the curly-haired boy's Persona before he could summon Zorro to the fight.

"Th-that's your Persona?"

Ren replied with a silent nod when the Persona vanished into smoke.

Morgana was confused by everything that was happening: first, she did not remember anything since she appeared in the cell, except for some knowledge of the Metaverse and the Palaces, and now these two teenagers appeared that one of them could invoke his own Persona, whose appearance It made me afraid to see him. He knew that Personas were manifestations of the psyche that represented the individual's inner personality, but that demonic-looking Persona made him feel uncomfortable, as if he could represent something dark, or wicked.

They followed a wide stone-paved path where the light from the streetlights gave dark, gothic contours to the ceiling and uninhabited cells as they continued to run. They ascended some steps until they came across a raised bridge where the stream of water ran. The walls were stony at every corner with the smell of wet stones that crowded the great dungeon. In both corners they detailed the athletics students, who were ill-treated and abused as garbage.

"There is no time" Morgana said seriously; "we have to keep running"

"Wait, damn it!" Ryuji called.

"What happens?" the cat replied. "We have to go now!"

"But ..." Ryuji began to question, "who are those guys?"

"Do you really think you have time to worry about other people right now?" The cognitive animal was detained. "Besides, they are ..."

_**"There!"**_ the voice of a Shadow had cut him off; the bridge had dropped, and the Knight Shade took a fighting stance, _**"Stand still!"**_

Ren shot Morgana a glance.

"... make your move"

"Do you want me to do it?"

"... You can summon your Persona, right?" He shrugged nonchalantly. "Then there are no problems doing the honors of seeing it in action"

"Hmm ... huh ... if you say so" Morgana said, still shaking with the chill and cold. "Zorro!" he screamed, and his Persona made his appearance by discarding the Shadow with the dispatch of luminous traces.

"... Impressive" Ren congratulated with a neutral and icy spirit, taking a step forward. "Let's go ahead"

Morgana and Ryuji shared a look, puzzled by the boy's indifference, but did not comment when they followed in silence, whose presence made them feel insecure about being close to him.

All three had left the dungeons and entered a tiled corridor and ornately patterned walls, drawers, and potted pillars. Ryuji tried to open a door on his right side, but Ren motioned to another corridor that led to a closed room, devoid of any door, with the torches lighting the warp darkness.

"... Over there" Ren pointed to a ventilation duct.

"You have a good eye" Morgana added, congratulating him with a smile, and the only response she had from him was a silent nod. He climbed up on the drawers nimbly, and removed the grate with both hands with enormous force, placing it gently on the floor.

"This is the safe way" Ren spoke calmly. "Come on, Ryuji, it's time for us to leave this place"

"If you say so" Ryuji looked at Morgana. "What about you?"

"There is something I have to do here yet" the cat said sincerely and optimistically. "We have separate ways"

"... Okay" Ren agreed. "Good luck in your search"

"Huh" Morgana smiled at him, "you're very kind. Be careful too"

"... We will take it into account. Come on, Ryuji"

"Yes I'm going!" He took one last look at the cat again. "By the way, what is your name?"

"Morgana, and yours"

"Ryuji. Thanks for helping us."

Morgana watched them disappear inside the duct until everything was silent.

"Those two seem useful ..." he muttered to himself, taking a thoughtful gesture. "... especially curly hair, if my judgment is correct ... although, my instincts do not stop telling me that I have to be careful with him. Hmmm, I have the feeling that his cold attitude hides something"

* * *

The two had appeared in an alley when they were transported to reality. They left there, and entered the busy area of modern Shibuya society. They both walked down the avenue, while Ryuji kept stretching his arms.

"Dude, what was all that happened?" he commented, exhausted and tired. "You know, we were almost killed in that castle ... It wasn't a dream, was it?"

"... I felt it real" Ren said calmly, "but I feel lost from what just happened. We were teleported to another reality"

"Hehehe!" Ryuji laughed humorously. "In that you are correct. That is something out of fiction, although what we saw seemed real. All of Shunjin had become a castle with Kamoshida as its king. What was it that made us teleport?"

"... I really don't know" Ren shook his head, lying and feeling satisfied with what he did, not caring that his first friend in Shibuya was going to die. "Everything seemed to distort so suddenly ... like a headache"

"Tch" Ryuji scoffed. "Like the mental shutdowns that are happening in the city ... too uninteresting in what happened. Anyway, whether it was a dream or not, I must thank you for saving Kamoshida's life."

"... There is no reason" Ren said with false affection.

"But that Kamoshida we saw there was different from the real one that smiled at us when entering the academy" Ryuji's tone turned sour. "Did I tell you a lot about what it really is"

"... A lot" Ren replied. "Even the Kamoshida in that kingly outfit makes me say that we saw his true personality when he was going to execute us; a dark counterpart to his ego."

"And the castle was representing Shujin, that damn bastard" growled the blond boy. "No one tells him anything because he is an Olympic medalist who has taken the volleyball team to the nationals. The way we saw that Kamoshida as king made me really crazy about it. I wonder if we can go back to that castle again"

_'Of course, there is no problem with that,'_ the Trickster of Chaos thought sadly._ 'It wouldn't hurt to kill some Shadows to get rid and see Kamoshida kicked'_

"We better relax a little bit of what just happened," Ren spoke to him, relaxed. "Let's exchange numbers to stay in touch if there's a chance to get in."

"You're right! I like that idea!"

They both exchanged numbers as they went their separate ways.

* * *

Ren had appeared in the Velvet Room in his prisoner outfit after going to bed at eight o'clock at night. He got up from his bed before Caroline could say anything in her commanding voice.

"Hmm, I see that you have awakened your powers" Yaldabaoth spoke to him through his marionet, "... although in a ... curious way"

Ren knew what he meant.

"Please, I want you to invoke your Persona"

He sharpened his senses, and Mephistopheles materialized outside the room. The twins were frightened by the macabre appearance, while the gestalt scrutinized him with analytical curiosity.

"Interesting ... manifestation of your soul, something very strange and curious coming that represents your rebellious spirit"

Mephistopheles bowed.

_**"Your compliments allude me, Herr Igor"**_

"Heh!" The Gestalt laughed out loud in his usual husky voice. "A wonderful mode of presentation coming from a Persona. Tell me, what is your name, if you are so kind to identify yourself?"

**_"Mephistopheles"_** formally introduced the Persona.

"Mephistopheles ... hmmm" the gestalt focused his gaze on Ren with a critical eye and a raised eyebrow. "Sometimes, the Personas tend to manifest themselves in different ways, but coming from a demon who is represented as a trickster who tempts poor souls in disgrace, in addition to being characterized by having a cold, rational mind and a high level of logic. Young, do you have hatred inside you?"

Ren cocked his head, confused, playing innocent paper.

"... Hate? Why do you say it, Mister Igor? I feel very excellent right now"

"Hmp, that doesn't explain the meaning of your Persona" he pointed at Mephistopheles. "I know that you are going through a process of accepting what you have just done since that fateful moment when you were incriminated, but you cannot see the world as your enemy. I am helping you to get ahead with your rehabilitation and begin to heal that your wound that does not close. I chose you because you had a potential, a potential that was worth taking out of your interior while society is going through a serious calamity that will destroy them if it is not stopped. You must leave that grudge that you carry and begin to turn the page. I'm doing it for your own good"

Ren suppressed a feeling of anger that he would not explode in front of the gestalt and the twins. He could not lie that Yaldabaoth had an excellent deduction in analyzing his Persona ... after all, he was a god who possessed a clay puppet who knew about the human behavior given to him by Philemon, the embodiment of hope.

The twins remained silent without saying a word or interfering in the conversation.

"... I will take that advice seriously, Mr. Igor" the Trickster of Chaos obediently told him. "I promise that my negative emotions will not interfere with my rehabilitation"

"You are polite and kind, I can see that in you, boy" the gestalt looked back at the summoned Persona. "You can go"

Mephistopheles said goodbye with an elegant and mocking air as he disappeared into a dark blue smoke.

"Well ..." the gestalte began to say, "since you are learning, it is time for you to know about the gift I gave you when you arrived in the city. The Metaverse Navigator allows you to teleport to the background, a pocket universe , created by the flow of distorted thoughts between the apathy and the uncertainty that mortal beings live. I gave it to you as a means to train you as a thief"

"The Metaverse Navigator is a gift from our master; you'd better use it carefully, prisoner," Caroline spoke seriously.

"Give yourself up to your training so you can become a good thief," Justine spoke gently.

"With this application, it will allow you to enter the Palaces and learn more about the hidden counterparts of individuals," said Gestalt. "I want him to grow as the best thief during your rehab. Make sure that hatred of yours disappears."

The bells rang out.

"... I better go now," Ren replied harshly, as he leaned back in his bed and saw how reality was distorted.

* * *

The routine was mass; He woke up, dressed, had lunch, and listened to people's complaints about the mental shutdowns that Akecho caused, which made him disinterested in hearing them and pretended not to listen. He got off the train and went straight to Shujin in good time; On the bright side, he did not hear any rumors or gossip of his criminal charges, implying that Kamoshida did not spread it, much to his relief.

The looks he had received from the students was of total indifference, he had even seen Haru and Makoto pass him by with total normality, without remembering the boy who transformed them into members of the Phantom Thieves, but that would be seen later when soon touch the moment.

After having finished his Social Sciences class with Professor Ushimaru, and tinkering with the correct answer as he had previously done in his original old timeline, Ren had seen Kamoshida and Ann in the hallway chatting, listening to hidden.

"You go home?" the degenerate ex-Olympian had said with a gentle, fake smile. "Things have gotten pretty dangerous lately with all those accidents"

"Sorry" Ann's voice was tired and insecure, victim of the coach's lassive and sexual harassment, "I have a photo shoot today. It's for the summer special, so I can't afford to miss"

"Hey, well ... as a model you must be slim and stupendous" Kamoshida advised taking a wise pose, "but don't force your little body to the bone. You mentioned you were not feeling well, right? Anything about appendicitis?"

That was a lie; Ann escaped abuse by feigning ailments as a means of escape from the former Olympian's activity to feel safe, unaware that her actions would cause Shiho to be vulnerable as a sex toy, something Ann would not allow her only friend to do. happy in this corrupt academy was abused again. Kamoshida had seen her in a fashion magazine, which had marked her as his new victim to feel comfortable, and that was why Ann prostituted herself so that Shiho would not suffer any more ... without knowing that Yaldabaoth had everything planned on the rooftop.

A suicide that did not deserve to cry or feel sorry for the poor victim of sexual abuse; That was in the past when Ren believed in justice, but she did not deserve to continue remembering something that was not worth anything.

"Yes, I still plan to go to the hospital" Ann continued lying, "but I feel too tired ... sorry for worrying"

"You must be alone too" Kamoshida understood. "I feel bad for keeping your best friend in practice so often; so I asked you to come out first."

Ren couldn't bear to listen to stupid nonsense anymore; He walked down the stairs with an individualistic attitude, walked down the hall full of students, classrooms, and trophy ledges to the exit; When he was about to go to the station, Ryuji caught his attention half a meter away.

"I wanted to talk about that castle we had yesterday" he said. "I tried to tell myself that it was just a dream ... but I can't do it. I can't pretend nothing happened. It's all related to that Kamoshida, after all. I want to find out what's going on with that place. It doesn't matter how. And you know, you're the only person I can trust with these things. So, you sign up?"

Being in the Palace would help clear his mind by killing some Shadows, it would feel good to let go of all the pressure to replay the same dramas from scratch. A moment of relaxation wouldn't be too bad to ease the frustration of the stinking human society in which he lived.

"... Of course yes" Ren said with a smile at his corners as a cordial gesture. "Where do we start?"

"I think we should try to go back the way we went yesterday" Ryuji commented. "Meanwhile, you're walking to the station, right?"

Ren nodded silently.

"Then let's go together. Let me know if you notice any other strange buildings on the way"

_'Oh sure I will, my dear friend,'_ the Trickster of Chaos said to himself maliciously. _'I'll be watching as you experience true suffering'_

* * *

Having left Shujin, the duo had reached the area where they were mysteriously teleported in an hour.

"If such a big castle really exists," Ryuji commented, "I'm sure we'll find it right away. Although, when did they build something like this?" He looked around: people walked the streets normally, buildings were still the same tall with modern finishes, stores were full of consumers, the sky was the same shade of light from sunlight and embroidered by clouds white. "We went this way, right?"

"... Yes" Ren stated.

"Hmp" the vulgar blonde growled. "It has to be around here ... Very well, now we will return to the academy. Let me know if you recognize anything"

They walked back towards, as Shujin began to empty himself of students and teachers, perfect for initiating the Navigator's activation when he depressed it and all of reality distorted into a purple blur with red spirals with black edges. The Shujin Academy had returned to the distorted version that Kamoshida viewed as the king in the castle.

Ryuji kept amazed and made comments about what he was seeing was really and not a dream. They were approached towards the huge closed front door, wondering how they would enter, and to their surprise, Morgana had leaned out of a corner, whispering about the visit, to which Ren had asked first instead of Ryuji asking.

"... We came to further explore the castle"

Morgana looked at the two of them with a contradictory expression.

"Are they crazy?!" he said without raising his voice. "Their presences have all the Shadows in the castle begun to mobilize by capturing their energy signatures. And to think that you would return to the entrance when you were barely able to escape"

"... You can at least explain to us why the school looks like this" Ren pointed out.

"That is due to the distorted vision that the individual captures in his mind and visualizes it according to his own perspective in the deepest part of his mind" Morgana explained with professional pride. "The ruler of this castle, Kamoshida, is the one who keeps him standing, but only his copy of the original, his Shadow, the one that almost killed them in the cell"

"... I understand" Ren agreed, thanking for something he already knew in his old timeline. "... Somewhat confusing at first, but it contributes a lot to the unknown of what Shujin looks like"

Muffled screams echoed outside until it echoed like ghostly wails.

"What was that?!" Ryuji asked, scared.

"They must be the slaves who are prisoners in the dungeons" said the cat with simplicity, and Ren understood that these were cognitions, illusions created by the mind of Kamoshida by reflecting on the athletes he trained in the real world as his toys to torture them for mere macabre pleasure.

The screams of agony began to rise, which made Ryuji nervous, upsetting him, making him more nervous than he was. Ryuji commented on the others he had seen escaping from the dungeons.

"Most likely on Kamoshida's orders," Morgana said seriously. "It is nothing out of the ordinary. Here they are every day like this. What difference does it make? The two of you escaped yesterday, which he has lost his nerve a little"

"It son of bitch!" Ryuji blurted out, heading closed doors sideways and kicked him with a crash. "Did you hear me, Kamoshida?!"

"By doing that he won't open it, you know ..." Morgana commented, and put on a compression face. "It seems to be your reasons though"

Before Ryuji started to misspell the cat's name, Ren got ahead of him first:

"... We need you to guide us to the dungeons"

Morgana looked at him in puzzlement.

"Why do you want me to do it?"

"... To further map the dungeon areas and to know how Kamoshida visualizes him from his perspective as king. I can help by invoking my Persona, remember?"

"Just seeing your clothes and that determination of yours makes me say that you guys don't plan to back down, right?"

Ren silently nodded

"Okay ... I'll guide you" Morgana said after letting out a groan in defeat and proceeding to guide the two teenagers.

* * *

The events that followed later unfolded according to their old timeline: they entered the dungeon areas where copies of the athletes were tortured in each chamber with medieval instruments of torture, making Ryuji understand that everything I saw they were just copies of the originals; They left the dungeons and proceeded to leave, only to find Shadow Kamoshida passing through with seven Knight Shadows in the hall.

Ren and Morgana fought against the Shadows that were arriving in flock that came to the confrontation with the help of their two Personas. Ryuji had joined the fight after having awakened his Persona, Captain Kidd, upon seeing the situation in which his two companions were, asking for strength to help them.

The fight had dragged on with the appearance of more Shadows to the game and the cognitive copy of Ann with scant clothes that made her slim and curvy pale skin body look that made Morgana and Ryuji blush like fools.

They escaped from the Palace and agreed on how to defeat him, while in the real world they would follow as if nothing had happened ... although Ryuji had thought about recovering information from Kamoshida about the abuses he was committing in Physical Education classes, to which Ren refused to help him, since he did not want his criminal record to be revealed to the entire school and to be the target of accusations as it had been in his old timeline.

Ryuji complained about it, and Ren proceeded to tell him the truth of his experiences as an incriminated person, which silenced him and promised never to involve him in the search for information when they were eating at the restaurant that invited him.

Having spent his days as a normal teenager, answering questions and writing down the dictates that the teachers told the students, Ren had relaxed moments like never before in his life when he had arrived at Shujin; everything had been the same without any misunderstanding ... except for the information provided by Mishima about the abuses that were censored by director Kobayakawa so as not to discredit the name of the Shujin Academy by rebelling it before Ryuji, and Ann's refusal not to be never his submissive having listened to her on the way to Leblanc, which had a terrible consequence on his actions.

On the following day, Ren witnessed how Shiho threw himself from the balcony, failing to bear the sexual abuse she had suffered when she was summoned to the Kamoshida office by a beaten Yuuki Mishima. Ren knew that it was Yaldaboath who manipulated Shiho's suicide as a method to see him react and become a vigilante against the corrupt system, although that did not matter at all to see how a partner of his died, since she was only an insignificant equation , as were his friends and Akechi.

After Shiho's near suicide, they both decided to enter Kamoshida castle accompanied by Morgana. When they entered the Palace dressed in their Phantom Thieve robes, Ann had secretly followed them. Ryuji pulled her away so that she would not interfere with her work, although she only served to have a Shadow capture her and awaken her Personae later on being executed.

Ann did not stop complaining about her tight crimson latex outfit that exposed her round neckline, something that Ren did not stop looking for the influence of a teenager who took photos in fashion magazines where their bodies were shown in revealing clothes, whether from swimsuits or glamorous dresses that detailed her figures ... Ann Takamaki was a radical feminist who was ignorant of her profession and a damn bitch at the same time.

Even Morgana did not stop idolizing her figure of being "a unique beauty in the world" for her Nordic-origin philaan features ... that idiot was the cat who was blinded by his self-centeredness of glimpsing beautiful girls where he looked; Even idol singer Rise Kujikawa was beautiful, as were Mitsuru Kirijo of the Kirijo Group, archer Yukari Takeba and journalist Maya Amano when she was young ... those women of beautiful beauty, as well as many others who surpassed Ann ... how he would make sure to take Morgana his precious lover before his eyes.

With Ann joining her codename Panther to the group, the Kamoshida reformation had begun.

The four Phantom Thieve had gathered in the salt of the throne where Shadow Kamoshida had manifested after having read the notes left by Ryuji around the school, prompting him to appear.

During the beginning of the battle, Ren had him won with Mephistopheles as a powerful Persona, dodging the attacks that the monstrous form of Kamoshida self-proclaiming as Asmodeus launched at him in seething anger. When he and his three companions attacked him, Asmodeus was healed by a cognitive copy of Shiho in rabbit attire, somewhat proactive that Ryuji, Morgana, and Ann felt uncomfortable and upset by the sight Kamoshida was seeing.

In the old timeline, Ren fell unconscious and summoned a new Persona to defeat the enemy, but in this reality, he had defeated Mephistopheles by his side, throwing the Shadowed Being a powerful and powerful purple dark energy that defeated him in a second when he made contact and a huge explosion shook the throne room.

Shadow Kamoshida's speech had been the same:

_**"... the user Persona with the black mask"**_

It was a warning that Akechi was walking among the Palaces as a supervisor under Shido's orders so that everything goes according to plan, but with the reform that they did, the existence of the Phantom Thieves would come from word of mouth to the media from all over the country and the world. Shido and entourage demominated as "the Conspiracy" would observe them all the time: they would attack with everything, the mental closures, the deaths of innocent people ... they would do what was necessary to discredit them, make society come upon them, and that will would wait.

The virtue of the powerful is patience, and Ren would be patient if everything took its course, like a ghost that passed among mortals.

* * *

_**"... The beginning of the Phantom Thieves of Heart is only the beginning of your destiny as our herald"**_ Tzeentch had congratulated him._** "We have seen how you have progressed in your new awakening as the Trickster of Chaos along with your new Persona, we are proud of your determination"**_

_**"Your fight against the Shadows and against that demonic form of that dark counterpart is the ferocity of a fierce and brave warrior,"**_ Khorne said approvingly. _**"I hope to see more of that spirit in you when it comes to fighting powerful enemies. Keep it up, and I will give you a strength that will put all the weak knees before you. Soon blood will flow among those who oppose the powerful."**_

_**"... I can even give you some blessings and advice for women to fall before you"**_ Slaanesh purred.

_**"... I will also give you the gift so that you can invoke plagues and become immune to diseases"**_ Nurgle pointed out.

Ren made a show of bowing.

"... I will make you guys proud. I will use the app to make you stronger in my spare time. I promise I will."

_**"Of course you will, our beloved herald"**_ the Architect of Destiny's tune was attractive and distorted. _**"Everything you have seen in your old timeline will repeat itself; Yaldabaoth's followers will attack with his assassin and his influence on the earth plane. He almost discovers your inner darkness by analyzing your Persona, be more careful and keep a Innocent facade when you see him again in the Velvet Room. Earn the trust of your friends so that you become stronger and cunning. Use them as mere toys and then throw them away"**_

"... I will, master"

_**"... One more thing,"** _added Tzeentch. _**"I want you to keep an eye on the two penitents who just entered the stage; that red-haired girl you met on the train is one, the other is about to arrive at your school as a psychological assistant ... a user of Persona to be more precise"**_

Ren swallowed hard, and his memory had delved into that scene where the redhead gently grabbed the old woman's seat, but a man had grabbed him and then pretended to sleep. Does that mean that girl was a petenciero? That he took into account for the next time if he saw her in the hallways of Shujin.

As for the second, he was intrigued; A Persona user as a school psychologist? Was he a subject of Yaldabaoth to spy on him? It could be a great possibility, since Yaldabaoth was nicknamed for being the God of Control, manipulating the facts as if he were the jedo-christian god.

It would not be a piece in his games of that cognitive deity, he had the right to do with his life what he wants.

_**"Make sure you keep an eye on them,"**_ said Tzeentch. _**"Those two are meant to change the course of this scenario. Earn the trust of those two."**_

Ren replied that he would, and felt everything around him distort.

* * *

Kobayakawa had gathered all the students and all the teachers in the school amphitheater regarding the events that had passed a week since the Kamoshida reform and the existence of the Phantom Thives that wandered through the media. After the revelation of the abuses perpetrated, (and the subsequent meeting of Yusuke Kitagawa in the subway where Ren naturally took the painter's work as normal, in which Yusuke respected and treated him well) Ren knew that this was the moment where the Personae user would appear.

"Due to the various problems that we have been through after the confession of Kamoshida for a week and the receptivity that our institution has been criticized," proclaimed Kobayawaka on the microphone, standing on the platform and keeping a fixed gaze on everyone gathered. "I have obtained an alternative so that you can have good health despite the mistreatment you have suffered. He introduced you to his new student advisor who will be joining us part time. You can come, Mr. Maruki"

A young man with glasses and unkempt short brown hair had appeared on the stage stage, enhancing the appearance of a teenager in his adult stage. He wore a blue suit with a blue plaid tie along with a white coat; his pants were light khaki supported by a black belt and brown sandals without socks. In his chest pocket of his suit he had a yellow pen and an ID tied to a red strap.

The new school counselor made a clumsy effort to see if the microphone worked.

"Greetings to all" he introduced himself with a cordial and friendly smile, "I am Takuto Maruki, your new school counselor and psychologist. I hope we can get along with everything and help you with your personal problems"

* * *

**And so gentlemen is where Royal's plot begins with Takuto Maruki and Kasumi Yoshizawa's introductions to calamity.**

**Do not forget to comment and leave your criticism in this chapter.**

**See you at the next one.**


	4. Chapter 4

I** want to thank you for the subscriptions and for the comments and criticism that you have left for this story to continue.**

**I thank you all greatly for contributing your readings.**

**Without further ado, let's continue with the story.**

* * *

The appearance of the new school guide who would be the psychologist of the Shujin Academy debuted among the students and teachers, especially in the area of the girls who did not stop idolizing him as a handsome and beautiful person for his youthful appearance. Both boys and girls approached him and asked questions about his life, such as his profession and occupation as a psychologist. Around him it denoted a friendly and warm aura, but it was a simple appearance. The predator camouflaged himself to devour the lambs devoid of all danger.

The penitent, Takuto Maruki, believed that no one would notice his sympathetic appearance as an ordinary person, not understanding that Ren knew of his introduction to Shujin as a false facade to sneak in unnoticed. A shrewd and brilliant idea that Maruki has made, but sometimes the plans are flawed.

Still, he had to gain their trust in a way to find out their aspirations, and then remove him from the board. Killing the two penitents would allow him to reach Yaldabaoth, and with it, the entire Earth would be destroyed.

To his great fortune, or that it was possibly Yaldabaoth who manipulated him, Maruki found him.

"You are Sakamoto and Takamaki, right? Then you are ... Amamiya"

Ryuji and Ann were confused, while Ren showed no such questioning emotion; new teachers or tutors should be informed what kind of student should be treated.

"How do you know our names?" Ryuji asked.

"Well, before I took over my position, I was briefed on some students. Those who, uhh ... interacted with Kamoshida at the time. Amamiya, it must have been difficult for you that you had just arrived"

"... Not much" Ren replied with simplicity with a shrug. "One must get used to causality"

"Hehe! I understand you" Maruki said with a friendly smile. "Sometimes unforeseen things can happen to newcomers, whether in schools or at work. You have to take everything slowly so as not to despair"

"... Excuse my intrusion" Ryuji intervened. "But what do you want from us?"

"Ah yes, I forgot" the psychologist murmured awkwardly. "I know I have offered my services to all students, but are you interested in hoarding?"

"No, not at all" Ryuji replied indirectly.

"Eh?!" Maruki exclaimed with a scared position.

"Are you surprised?"

"They have been a little more empathetic than I expected ... Ah! But if they come to see me in my office, you would have free candy. Unlimited food, it would be ideal, but there is a lot, that's it. What do you think?"

The strategy of using sweets as tallow to lure them into your practice as kindergarteners to listen to you is a highly overrated and implemented resource in believing that the idiot would achieve his goal. Ren had to admit that the psychologist was a cunning and stupid idiot who knows what he is doing ... although he does not take away his insignificance as a perennial garbage that seeks to redeem himself from his sins.

"... And why should we do it?" Ren asked.

"If I'm honest, I was ordered to guide the students who had a relationship with Kamoshida," admitted Maruki sincerely. "It is for the good of the institute, and that of the students"

The facc¡ade of the good highlighted the acting skills that Maruki implemented in a credible way.

"The good of the school, huh?" Ryuji said with a frown and his arms crossed.

"It is too much to ask that they be honest with a stranger like me. Making it obligatory would be useless. Although it might be a good experience," the psychologist's face turned into an enlightened expression, as if a good idea. "... Ah, I know! If you come to my sessions, I will teach you how to improve your mental acuities. They will learn to concentrate before the exams, or avoid nerves on dates. Is that okay?"

There was some discomfort in the atmosphere because of the questions Muraki was throwing at them, prompting them to participate in his psychological therapies as a willing show of self-help. For Ren, he would not hesitate to deny the offer; after all, the young psychologist was trying to be accepted as a friend. Gaining her confidence in participating in therapy would help her learn a little more about her past, then go for the red-haired girl.

"... And I also have some sweets" Muraki reminded them.

"Okey, okey!" Ryuji snapped, annoyed. "Let's put the sweets away!" He directed his gaze towards Ren. "Well, what do you think?"

"... I'm going to participate" decided the Trickster of Chaos. "No one dies to speak"

Ryuji snorted and massaged his blond hair.

"I guess not going would give us trouble"

"... Hmm, yes," Ann agreed hesitantly.

"Really?" Maruki said. "Well, I'm done! I'll be in the infirmary. They can come when it's best for you"

"... Fine" Ryuji stretched out his arms after groaning, "we should be doing it"

"Very well ..." the psychologist agreed, "see you later"

Ryuji and Ann left the area as they walked down the hall. Ren stayed for a second with the psychologist before leaving, and he said:

"Thank you for considering my orientation sessions. Now that we have made a deal, I will do what I can to help you"

_'And I will help too, Maruki,'_ Ren told himself internally, with burning malice. _'When I know about you and what you have in the past, I will help you free yourself from your corporeal prison'_

* * *

"Do you think it works?" Ryuji said in his Phantom Thieve costume, hidden in a corner in a room with many Asian and European paintings in what should be called a museum, but appearances were deceiving the eyes. They were not in any museum that made up the city, but rather the representation of one being captured inside the individual's mind. A Palace, belonging to the famous painter Ichiryusai Madarame.

"... It will work, for sure" Ren assured him with his arms and leaning against a wall, near a Picazzo.

It was to be expected that Ann teleported Yusuke to the Palace just as she had done in her old timeline; Morgana would reveal the secret that Madarame hid the original canvas that Yusuke's mother had made after abandoning him to his fate, Yusuke would get angry about it, and in an accidental way, would bring him to his Master's Palace to observe his true face.

Patience was a sacred virtue of the individual.

"What if they find her out?" Ryuji insisted anxiously.

"... They won't" the Trickster of Chaos replied calmly.

Yusuke trusted him when explaining his false taste for art and the traces that every painter had the right to create to consider himself a great work. He only had to appear with a mask of kindness and innocence, and everyone would fall at his feet.

Three minutes later, a distorted ripple manifested in the center of the room, and Ann, Morgana, and a confused Yusuke emerged.

"What ...? What is this? Is it Shibuya Art Gallery?" the young painter was stunned to see the group in their Phantom Thieves costumes. "You two! How is it possible ...?!"

"... Calm down, Yusuke!" Ann told him, trying to calm him down.

"... No, it is not possible, this cannot be real" Yusuke continued saying like a paranoid. "This is a dream ... Yes! It is a dream. Nothing is real"

"I'm afraid it's real" Morgana interrupted him. "You were teleported when Ann accidentally activated the Navigator"

Yusuke's jaw dropped open and his eyes narrowed.

"... That cat can speak"

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere, Ren intervened.

"... I know this is a lot to digest, but when we are done, I promise we will tell you everything"

"End up?" the young painter questioned. "Finish what exactly? What do you say?"

_**"... The mission to steal my most precious work of art, my beloved apprentice"** _a distorted voice that echoed throughout the room, drawing the attention of the Phantom Thieves.

The group held battle positions as they watched Shadow Madarame appear with an entourage of Shadows surrounding them in a circular position.

**_"Oh Yusuke_**" the Shadowed Being began to say in a disappointed tone. "_**Yusuke, Yusuke... my favorite and beloved apprentice, how is it possible that you got involved in this ... situation"**_

"... Master? Is that you?" Yusuke hesitated, shocked.

"Disgusting" Ann spat, observing the appearance of the famous Shibuya artist's dark counterpart, emulating that of a higher-ranking nobility with her golden yukata and makeup so horrifying that it emulated the true burlesque and lying personality that she was a clown.

"This is part of a big lie, isn't it?" asked the young painter.

_**"My habituarian appearance is pure facade"** _the Shadowed Being pointedly pointed at him. **_"Besides, how is a celebrity going to live in that hole? I have something else ... in the name of a lover, of course"_**

"If the Sayuri was stolen, what was he doing in the storage room?" Yusuke questioned. "And if you had the original, why did you make copies? ... If it really is you, master, please tell me!"

_**"You will be a fool ... don't you understand?"**_ the Shadowed Being insulted him. **_"The theft of the painting was a rumor that I spread myself. It was all calculated!"_**

"What do you mean?"

_**"Hmmm, aver, what do you think of this?: 'I have found the original painting, but it is a secret ... Although you can get it for a small price'. Hahaha! Have you seen what I try to do? They will swallow and pay a lot for it."**_

"No...!" Yusuke exclaimed, falling to his knees.

Ren watched insignificantly as Madarame's dark counterpart related the whole truth to his apprentice; a puppet that only served to pull the strings at the step of his master. Yusuke and the rest of the apprentices were just simple fruits to extract. A pity for a minor garbage.

Hearing it all, Yusuke woke Goemon as his suit changed into his usual dark leather ronin suit with blue sleeves and his fox mask covering his face.

Goemon unleashed a freezing blizzard that froze all Shadows and portraits. Shadow Madarame tried to flee, but Ren cut him off with a fireball summoned by Mephistopheles. The fire attack created a crater a few meters away from the Shadowed Being, making it clear that his escape would not be easy.

"... Give us the Treasure" Ren ordered with a dark and evil coldness.

Shadow Madarame swallowed, trembling with fear as she watched as the Trickster of Chaos exuded a murderous aura.

_**"... I-I won't ..."**_ the Shadowed Being hesitated._** "... N-No I-I-I'll let them take him"**_

The human figure of the Shadowed Being changed to that of a mural of pictures that made up his face.

**_"If you want my Treasure, then you will have to fight!"_**

A thin smile appeared on Ren's lips, euphoric and eager to leave that trash on the floor. Fighting the Shadowed Beings increased his warrior esteem that Khorne had told him to rise and become strong, capable of dealing with Yaldabaoth and the garbage he called teammates, the worst pestilence in society to have given birth.

During the weekends before taking the Madarame case, Ren fought all kinds of Shadows in Mementos; From low level to high level, no matter what rank an enemy was in, the result was the same for him: killing everything that crossed his path to earn the divine blessings of his masters.

Defeating Shadow Madarame would be easy after all, as it was nothing more than a statistic in a predetermined equation between various variables that Shadows were made up of across the cognitive stage of the human psyche.

Shadow Madarame had summoned six Golems of different colors as their Praetorian Guard. Ren laughed at that, and ordered Mephistopheles to eliminate them with a simple spell of electrical darkness. The Golems were soothed until they disappeared into jet smoke. Shadow Madarame charged at them by sending an energy sphere, but was blocked by Mephistopheles when firing a bullet-shaped beam of dark energy.

The shock unleashed a shrill tremor that shook the room violently. Shadow Madarame moaned in pain at being disoriented by the deafening and mowing blast; He tried to sharpen his senses and charge the snot again ... however, the Phantom Thieves had attacked first.

Carmen fired projectile shells, Zorro fine white lines, Captain Kidd electric lashes, and to fill in, an ice icicle hosted by Goemon. The attack was a hundred times more deadly than the crash. Shadow Madarame spun like a top, dizzy and disoriented, his eyes rolling like villar balls and the pictures ripped apart and torn apart by the combined attack.

Seeing that the Shadowed Being was on the verge of losing, Ren ended the battle with a Muudo spell that completely engulfed the Shadow Being, and then exploded.

The violent smoke dispersed, revealing a completely ruined and destroyed room, with debris and openings in every hectare of the museum. Shadow Madarame had returned to his human form, bruised, sore, and hurt. The golden yukata was tattered and half-burned. The burlesque clown's face was centered with scrapes on his skin.

_**"... Huh ... hmm ... hmp ..."** _the Shadowed Being muttered in a brittle voice._** "... It hurts ... it hurts a lot ..."**_

"... Well you should feel it, trash" the Trickster of Chaos blurted out with poison. "That pain you feel is the representation of the great damage you have done to your apprentices in squeezing and using them in your dirty clandestine business"

Shadow Madarame did not answer, just talking choked on answering. His gaze wandered among the gathering Phantom Thieves, and he detailed his apprentice's face.

_**"... Yusuke..."**_

"You don't have the right to say my name!" the young artist growled.

_**"... Yusuke..."**_ the Shadowed Being said weakly again. **_"... I, I'm sorry ... I'm very sorry. It's true, I deserve this suffering for my sins that I have committed. I used you and my apprentices to boast of their own work ..." Tears ran down her cheek. "... I take responsibility for everything, including the death of your mother. On one occasion I loved you as if I were my own son ... but greed reaped me ... falling into the condition of my own sin. Do not forgive me for the damage I caused you ... feel free to hold a grudge for as long as you want. Sayuri's painting is all yours ... go get it "_**

In the third room, the painting manifested itself in the reflector. Yusuke walked towards her and took it delicately.

"... A work of art should never be in a pen" he murmured.

_**"... Before they leave"** _the Shadowed Being called.**_ "... the wearer of the black mask passed through here. He did not know what he wanted, but his presence gave a feeling of danger. I recommend that you take care of him"_**

The Shadowed Being disappeared with the warning floating in the air. The Palace began to shake, and the Phantom Thieves fled the scene with the Treasure.

* * *

After Madarame exposed his frauds to all television, Ren concentrated on recording the events in his diary as dictated by his despicable guardian.

"... What are you writing?" Kawakami asked from the sofa, lying like a dead man and dressed in his usual maid outfit. Her teacher's expression was one of exhausting, exhausting exhaustion.

In his other timeline, Ren had been nervous when he learned of Ryuji's idiocy and Mishima had him shoved in, but in this new reality it is different; He was not nervous when he saw her, but kept an icy and serious attitude when he observed his teacher dressed as a maid at the moment she made her appearance. Kawakami was startled to see him with that appearance of crossed arms and iron countenance, as well as tough as the metal that struck her on his glasses.

Using Kawakami to clean his room gave him weight off his shoulders while he was on Mementos, getting stronger and stronger. He knew of his situation in how he came to have the job, which was elevated to the background.

"... My tutor told me that I should write everything I am doing during my stay at the Leblanc" Ren replied in a direct voice. "... Orders of the prosecution"

"Hmp ... I imagine the weight Mr. Sakura has to carry"

"... What can I say" he found himself indifferently. "I am a simple criminal with a criminal record that nobody wants to have ... not even my own parents"

"Hey, you don't need to go that far," Kawakami asserted. "It was just a joke so you wouldn't take it seriously"

"... But what I answered was a joke"

"Now you tell me? How melodramatic you are"

"... Melodramatic?" Ren frowned. "That says the teacher who had a double job as a maid without anyone knowing"

"... Hey! You're going over the line!" she scolded him. "You don't have to be rude to me. I just do my job tidying up your room while you're busy with your chores."

Ren did not throw any hints at him; he continued to write in the pages of her diary, paying no attention to the presence of her ally maid ... although the term slave suits her well because of the maid outfit.

A slave of her own to her own destiny ... like he hated that word, reminding him of his old life and the contempt he had to go through for the simple fact of being a criminal who did nothing to deserve the horrible treatment as an outcast.

The man chooses, the slave obeys.

Kawakami let out a groan, and said:

"... Look, I know you are going through a difficult time. I admit that I treated you badly on your first day when you signed up, I don't blame you for it. I know you try to make an effort to raise your morale despite the record you have. That Cold attitude that I saw in that apartment made me scared. I know you hold a grudge against me, I understand, but ... "

"... Why does the domestic maid work?" Ren cut him off.

"Huh?"

"... You heard me already" Ren muttered, using a murderous aura that Mephistopheles had given him to intimidate his teacher.

Kawakami gulped nervously and proceeded to tell him the truth ... the same story Ren had heard in his old timeline: she persuaded a student named Taki Takase who had lower grades and frequently skipped school to transfer. to another school. Kawakami had sympathized with Takase for losing his parents and working three part-time jobs to support his life, therefore she encouraged him to personally improve on improving his grades. The act of kindness was met with criticism and the director ordered her to stop teaching or to resign due to rumors that Takase was a juvenile delinquent. Kawakami had no choice but to give up on Takase.

Ren did not express any emotion of pity or compassion for his teacher upon hearing the part where Takase died in a car accident apparently due to the exhaustion of his part-time jobs and studies. Takase's relatives who adopted him blamed Kawakami for his death and threatened to sue her unless she paid them an "apology" for Takasa's death. Obviously, the additive family benefited from the money, and with Takase's death, they decided to extort money from Kawakami for free.

The Housekeeping Services Victoria agency has two divisions; the first served as a domestic servant, and the second as a prostitution service. Ren would be interested in the second service when it would suit him to unburden his frustrations inside his teacher and see her gasp in pain at being pulled out and in orgasm.

"... The Phantom Thieves would help, you know"

Kawakami hesitated.

"... It's just ... well, they did a job of getting Kamoshida to confess their crimes in front of everyone ... but I find it hard to have confidence that they do. Although, thinking about it from another perspective, it wouldn't be a bad idea"

"... You would have a weight lifted on your shoulders" Ren commented without emotion, who was still busy writing in his diary. The phone snapped into his pocket; he pulled it out, and his expression darkened.

**How did you know about hidden cameras?**

He grimaced, as his dark expression grew sharp. He did not expect the day when Futaba's hikkikomori would appear after three weeks after destroying the hidden chambers on the Leblanc. She had freaked out in her room, and in reaction, she sent him the message as a brave effort to face him ... how pathetic of him.

Although, viewed from a different angle, using Futaba to eliminate Shido's cyber attack would give him a greater advantage over the scenario planned by the Conspiracy; the fake Medjed would attack after Kaneshiro's reform, and this turn of events gave him the lead.

In order to get Futaba to do her job, it was required to focus her Shadow, and seeing that the hacker is scared, the Shadow Being would manifest in her dream and threaten him if he represented a danger to her; that was the key to the success that he would have without counting the help of his despicable and fucking companions who were useless to him ... he saved himself the long way through the hot desert that made up the Palace.

"Something happens?" Kawakami called him.

"... No, it's nothing" Ren lied. "Just a message my parents sent me if everything was okay"

He put the phone in his pocket and continued writing in his diary as if nothing bad happened, while inside he planned what he should do.

* * *

The nightmares where he was beaten and drugged in the SIU interrogation room vanished like smoke blown by the wind as he woke up to a new reality. He was not in the Velvet Room or on the Warp plane where the Ruinous Powers summoned him, but in a spacious room of tile and sandstone walls at a square angle of about twenty space. Ren could detail that the centers and ornaments were of Egyptian origin, as well as on the divan that was sitting as on the throne where the dark counterpart of Futaba was, as if it were Cleopatra herself.

_**"... So, you are responsible for destroying the hidden cameras, right?"**_ she sentenced with a withering look in her yellow eyes and a frown. **_"Futaba freaked out, causing her to go into a state of hysteria that almost gave her a mental breakdown. If it weren't for my intervention, this Palace and my own existence would cease to exist. Don't you know the damage you've done to her?"_**

Ren was silent without saying anything.

_**"Hmp ...!"** _the Shadowed Being growled. _**"That attitude shows that you did not care what you did. Listen, Ren Amamiya, I know very well that you have a criminal record in allowing you to live in the Leblanc under the gaze of Sojiro as your guardian; it did not take a second for your. You will show that criminal side of yours by finding the cameras and destroying them. The images are recorded on the computer, forcing me to show it to Sojiro for the sake of Futaba. Yes ... "**_

The speech was choked by the strangling of Mephistopheles' hand around his neck. Shadow Futaba released a thread of dumb pain as he felt the Personae squeeze his neck tight, axphyxiating his throat and almost feeling how his vocal cords failed him.

Ren gently caressed her cheek.

"... Touching, very touching of a sister who protects her youngest from bullies, or should I say of a dead mother ..."

Shadow Futaba squawked in a choking insult that echoed.

"... Don't resist" Ren advised him. "The stronger you are, the more your useless attempt to get rid of my Persona"

The Shadowed Being gave a growl that sounded like a cat's meow and he followed the order to reluctantly stand still.

"... That's better" he ran a hand over his orange hair and ruffled it like a dog while giving him a _"sweet"_ smile. "Silent, you look very pretty like a beautiful rag doll, and that Egyptian pharaona look fits well."

_**"... What is ... what ... do you want ..."** _she spoke in a tone as dry and rough as sand, aching from the strangulation.

"What I want?" Ren let out a bitter laugh. "... You see, my little sister, what I want is your collaboration, a collaboration that can benefit me"

_**"And what collaboration would it be?"** _sentenced the Shadowed Being with a withering look. Her throat was still clenched in Mephistopheles' hand.

Ren curled his lips into a wide smile, and said in a melodious tone:

"... Medjed"

The Shadowy Being's yellow eyes widened until they almost popped out of their sockets.

_**"How do you know about them?"**_

"... It is a complicated story on how I know about your group of hackers" he gestured with his hand as disinterested. "The point is that the fake Medjed who is powered by Shido's minions plan to launch a cyber attack on Shibuya with the aim of harming us and sowing discord among society," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Such a cliche plan that always works when villains try to prove the heroes' bravery"

Shadow Futaba looked at him for a long moment, squinting and cocking his head.

"... I know what I tell you, it seems like a lie from your point of view" Ren said, moaning and crossing his arms, "but the mention of Shido did make you jump from surprise to see it on your face, little sister"

The Shadowed Being growled. Ren approached him and lifted his chin to look at him.

"... You cannot hide the resentment you feel, I can see it inside you. I know that you are a distorted copy that represents the guilt Futaba feels when losing her mother, believing that she is responsible for her suicide as a a simple burden that not even her own blood relatives wanted. But you are also the same Wakaba Isshiki, the researcher who discovered the existence of the Metaverse, and who later on, was assassinated by Masayoshi Shido himself by taking away your investigations"

Shadow Futaba's expression darkened.

_**"... Shido"**_

"Exactly!" Ren exclaimed. "Shido is the damned responsible for all the misfortunes to happen; it was he who killed the real Wakaba Isshiki, he was the one who caused the ravages of mental closings at the hands of his assassin, and possibly he is Prime Minister by winning the elections in a dirty way. The cyber attack will be imminent if we don't do something. Let Futaba join the Phantom Thieves, and she can take revenge. What do you say?"

The Shadowed Being thought about it for a few minutes with the silence deadening the room.

_**"... And how do I know that I can trust you?"** _she questioned.

Ren winced, shook his head, and his expression hardened.

"... It seems I have no choice but to make you understand the hard way. Mephistopheles, weakens his body"

The Persona followed his master's order. Shadow Futaba protested as she felt his entire body freeze, as if he lost motor function. She cursed, but was silent when Ren covered her mouth with his own bandages ... the bandages that covered her intimate underside that was out in the open.

She felt fear, and tears ran down her cheeks, knowing it was about to pass.

"Thanks Mephistopheles, you can go," the Persona vanished into dark smoke, and a predatory expression peeked into Ren's face. "The only way to tame a rebellious pet so that it is submissive to its master's orders, is through affection and love in making it docile ... that's what you need, little sister"

Shadow Futaba cried internally as she felt her butt contract, invaded by suction and the hungry licks her perpetrator made her, pushing more inside. Ren's fingers traveled down her genitals until one was tucked inside her vagina, while the other massaged the weights under the bandages, making her moan with masturbation and sucking, treating her like a sex doll.

The euphoria morphed into intense lust unleashed when Ren began to go fast, licking and sucking, groping and thrusting, accelerated like a racing car ... until he managed to reach the goal with the ejaculation of vaginal fluids in the last race.

Ren stood up from the ground and wiped his lips.

"... Who would have thought that the Shadowed Beings could feel the same sexual interactions as their original counterparts, don't you think, little sister?" he said, removing the bandages from his mouth against the dark counterpart of the hikkikomori hacker.

Shadow Futaba said nothing; his eyes were narrowed and glazed, thus with a ghostly blank expression, similar to that of an emotionless specter.

"... Then will you help me?"

_**"... Yes ... y-yes ..."** _she asked in a low voice.

Ren smiled with joy.

"Thanks, little sister"

* * *

Futaba was internally dizzy, followed by pain in his genitals and behind. She woke up with a start, the result of a nightmare, one where she wore an Egyptian Pharaon outfit and that was arguing with the boy who destroyed the cameras about a matter that she just remembered in the midst of the fragments that flew around her mind.

At first she didn't understand anything, but as the deterrence took a different course, it was then that the boy attacked her in a wild way, gesturing to the monster she had summoned to immobilize her body with a kind of spell, to then be raped.

Futaba shuddered with fright, shocked at how her entire body was groped and masturbated by the boy who paralyzed her. He attacked like a rabid dog, devouring her, satiating her body in fueling her sexual desire to be overpowered as a way of submission that he understood would eventually come to a kind of cyber attack if he didn't join his side.

She shook her head, thinking that it was a product concocted by her mind due to the depression she suffered due to the suicide of her mother by throwing herself in a car and the breakdown of nerves by the boy who destroyed his cameras ... but still, a strong burning blaze burned internally, stiffening and freezing, until a reform effect possessed him.

Futaba felt an invisible weight lifting on her shoulders, as if she were no longer responsible for her mother's suicide, but the victim of a dirty plan devised by a group of corrupt people who took advantage of her mother's death to make herself control some secret investigation and use them for your own purposes.

The word cyber attacked and fake Medjed whirled around her mind until she knew immediately what she had to do.

But when she tried to reconcile sleep, the nightmare returned where the boy with a criminal record abused her without stopping for the rest of the night.

* * *

Jose could be considered as a person curious about life, especially humans, since he considered them as a strange and fascinating species at first glance. They loved, they laughed, they sang, they betrayed, they were sad, they were happy, sometimes they hated each other, others reconciled ... the cycle was repeated a million times along with a vicious circle that Jose was very curious about how human beings were made up of that self-destructive and regenerative charge that made them as they are.

His appearance to that of a twelve-year-old boy denoted a slight childhood innocence, being curious of the unknown world that surrounds him to a boy who takes his first steps in a new experience, eager and energetic to discover everything. He had gray hair in the shape of a half eggshell, yellow eyes, and very round and unusually indefinite ears. He wears an oversized grayish-white slip-on and moon and star motif boots, as well as glasses around his neck ... the perfect definition of an innocent and pure child like soul and chastity reflecting his appearance.

As it was made in the likeness of a child, Jose was very curious since he was created, especially in replacing his own existence at birth and his place on the existential plane that all living beings made up, reflecting the unknown of his existentialism. .. or rather, his purpose in life.

What was its purpose? That was the answer that gave him so much around his mind; What was it really for? What should I do? Was he predestined in something? ... an endless number of questions came to him more than the previous ones; one replacing the new, but with the same theme that was not changed: its existence that must have a purpose ... but which one?

Living things had purposes, plants had purposes, the climate had its purpose, water, the skies, viruses, modern devices ... all had predetermined purposes. For Jose, being a being born of the psyche, he questioned whether he really had a purpose like all things on the existential plane. Humans were an example in which Jose always saw and observed, intrigued by how they adapt in complicated environments and gave a greater purpose in the non-existent holes they filled as plugs.

Jose wanted to learn from humans, how they managed to have successes and triumphs despite the self-destructive and bestial behavior. But even so, they continued their lives as if nothing had happened. That fixation fueled their inner spirit in being able to compensate them, understand their attitudes that defined them as a rational species in the sense of the emotions and actions exerted by themselves, thinking that he could reflect on them.

Under the guidance of a certain person (his creator, if he remembered more or less) who had helped him understand the psychology of humans, the subject advised him to run all of Mementos, learning from the dark counterparts that reflected self-centeredness and wickedness as learning method, as well as the flower collection that is only available on the Path of Daat to transform it into juice in which it would help increase your mental understanding when drinking it, although it should be said that it tastes very bad when you drink it.

Another thing he learned on his route of knowledge and understanding was that Mementos was very large and narrow, made up of several railroad tracks that led him on various paths, both Shadowy and Shadowy, including some flowers and foreign objects he found. when driving in your toy car.

In every place he drove, things began to change in a strange and inexplicable way; such as the departure of the Shadoweds Beings on the trains and the pressure points that emerged as newly formed wounds that changed the structure. As a measure to solve, Jose hit the pressure points with his hammer, seeing that his plumbing gave a positive result to the arrangement he made as a noble work.

On some occasions, Jose had joyous days and boring days in his work of understanding human complexity, forgetting his learning and having fun being chased by the Shadows or fighting against them to get rid of his melancholic personal frustration. Sometimes it was difficult to prioritize his true goal in seeking the meaning of the self-perspective understanding of his own identity in studying humans.

What previously must have been another dull day had turned into an experience that stumped him.

_**"... Who are you? What do you want?"**_

The voice of an angry and dismayed Shadowd Being caught his attention when he was almost about to turn a corner. De had the vehicle, and out of childish curiosity, listened to the dispute.

_'What's going on?'_ Jose thought questioningly, turning his head and setting his gaze on the right side of the tracks. He passed by, driving without making the slightest noise so they wouldn't hear him.

_'It looks like it's here'_ Jose got out of the vehicle and walked silently towards an interception. He leaned against the wall and bowed his head very gently, avoiding recognition. Beyond, he spotted a figure in dark robes and the red aura of the Shadowed Being in front.

"... Youji Isshiki" said the guy in the dark suit, reciting the name of the Shadowed Being. "... How long has it been since the last time"

_**"What the hell is he saying, brat?"**_ replied the Shadowed Being, annoyed. _**"Do I know you or what? ... Wait a minute ... did he send you?"**_

"... No" the individual replied with coldness and tenacity, to which Jose could deduce that he was young, a teenager. "The user of the black mask, or what I like to tell him by his Goro Akechi name, has not sent me"

_**"Goro Akechi?"**_ inquired the Shadowy Being. _**"Black Mask is the young detective on the news?"**_

"... I would say a puppet of his own father" he saw the boy shrug, "but that does not come in this conversation. I came to end your miserable life"

Jose's jaw dropped open, while his yellow eyes narrowed and an intense chill ran through his entire body.

_**"... Are you kidding me?"**_

"... I mean it, you damn bastard" the boy sentenced with poisonous bitterness. "Maybe you don't remember me, but you do at Leblanc"

_**"At the Leblanc ...?"**_ there was fear and confusion in the voice of the Shadowed Being._** "... Are you the brat that was next to him at the counter?!"**_

Applause echoed throughout the subway.

"A wonderful deduction from someone who was able to use his intellect amid gambling and financial debt with dangerous gangs," the boy commented in a dark and sarcastic tone.

_**"... Did Sojiro tell you about my situation? Did he send you to murder me?!"**_

"... In fact" the boy corrected him calmly, "I was the one who decided to kill you, not reform you, since it is not worth it in a trash like you"

Jose swallowed hard. In his long stay in Mementos, he had heard of a group of youngs known as the Phantom Thieves of Heart who altered the behavior of the Shadow Beings after a fight where they admit their mistakes and reconsider until they return their guest on the plane of the reality. That group was dedicated to the righteous and the common good, but what they witnessed was shocking and horrifying: the death of a Shadowed Being.

"... Youji Isshiki" began the Phantom Thieve in a deep dead tone, "the sins you have committed are great, so much so that you cannot forgive a miserable pig who has hated his own sister who has succeeded in everything, while you only dedicated yourself to being a bum. You have used your own niece as a mere useless object to earn money and squander it on bets. You blamed me for an attack I did not make you where I was almost imprisoned for your childish immaturity spoiled and rude child. Your punishment ... is death"

Jose saw how the Shadowed Being begged for mercy, but was drowned as his entire existence was ripped apart by the invocation of a demon-looking creature that the Phantom Thieve summoned to murder him.

Jose screamed when he saw that the Phantom Thieve had seen him. He ran in fear toward the vehicle, stomped on the accelerator, and shot out like a bolt of lightning, driving at full speed along the road he had previously taken. He left Shadows and interceptions behind without the slightest hint of looking to see if the Phantom Thieve followed, fearful he would take the lead. He accelerated as fast as he could and turned toward a slash that led to his Shop. In the course of the race he managed to make out the door that was locked from a stop. He got inside with the vehicle opening automatically and closed it quite tightly.

Jose collapsed to the ground, trembling, frightened, frightened by the fear that enveloped him in how he witnessed the death of a Shadowy Being before his eyes. He felt the adrenaline pumping through his body with a rhythmic intensity. What he had seen was real, a cruel reality that struck him where he witnessed an action known as murder at the hands of a human ... a human giving off a dark and evil aura.

The human killed the Shadowed Being without any remorse, even after hearing the misdeeds he committed when he begged for mercy; but he did not obtain it when he died.

Without a Shadowy Being, his counterpart in the underworld also died, because it was his projection in Mementos.

Whatever it was, the Phantom Thieve had outstanding accounts with the Shadowed Being named Youji Isshiki for the crimes he committed, and instead of reforming it, he killed it without much effort by invoking a kind of Shadow, or rather, a Personae.

When Jose was about to get up off the ground, an earthquake shook the Shop.

"Eh?! What's the matter?! Why is the Shop shaking?!"

A loud buzz rattled throughout the interior. The door, once closed and secured by all locks, exploded, flying into thousands of pieces.

"... Well, well, well ... but look what we have here" the human sang as he entered the Shop at a slow and calm pace, looking around with a curved smile on his lips. "It looks like I found the rabbit hole, and I see that this hole is rich in elegance"

Jose coughed and rubbed his eyes, until the human grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air. Jose's yellow eyes sharpened, managing to detail the human: he was tall and thin, with tousled and wavy black hair and intense dark gray eyes that glowed at him with an evil glow over a domino mask. His outfit consisted of a dark ankle length coat, a turtleneck with gold accents, jet pants, plumed with brown and black winks, and a pair of red gloves.

"... So, kid," began the human, with a sardonic and humorous tone, "... are you a minion from Yaldabaoth?"

Jose didn't comment, he was still stunned.

"Won't you answer me? Speak up, you damn brat!" the human exclaimed, squeezing his throat tight and throwing him from side to side as if it were a broom.

"L-Let go of me! D-Don't m-hurt me!" Jose implored, scared. "It wasn't my business to intrude on something personal! I'm so sorry, please ...! L-Let me go!"

"Shut the fuck up!" The Phantom Thieve slammed him to the ground with a crash, and Jose felt his spine break as he felt the damage internally. "Listen to me very well, brat; here I ask the questions and you answer me, do you understand me?"

Jose nodded his head in pain.

"Very well. First question: Who are you?"

"... Jose ... my name is Jose ..."

"Nice name ... coming from a cognitive thing. Second question: did Yaldabaoth create you?"

"... Yaldabaoth?" Jose said, confused. "... No ... I was not created by a person named Yaldabaoth, but by my creator"

"Ah!" said the teenager, turning his face into an evil expression. "So you were created by someone, huh? Tell me; who is that person who created you?"

Jose turned white and swallowed hard.

"That expression of yours makes me say that you hide the identity of your creator" A slap in the face of Jose's right cheek was unleashed. "I'm not someone you can lie to and hide, damn kid! Tell me the fucking name of your creator, or I'll have to hit you until you say it!"

"Ne-Never ...!" Jose threw a spit at him in the mask, which was a serious mistake, and as a consequence, everything was done very quickly: the slaps came, followed by the stamps on the wall until holes were formed, and lastly, lashes against the ground twenty-seven times in a row.

The result, a Jose with a broken eggshell, the loss of his right eye and a left ear, cracks that ran down his face, a torn impenetrable, the loss of his glasses, and the opening in his waist ... basically it was the vivid image of a damaged and uncertain doll.

The human growled in annoyance.

"Are you going to tell me now?"

Jose gave a faint squawk in response, his vocal cords broken by the whipping on the wall and on the floor.

"Tch!" The Phantom Thieve pursed his lips. "What a waste of time I had with you. You know what? I'm not interested in knowing who your fucking creator is. I can guess that it was Philemon, or Igor, or some fucking shit that suffers from existence. Anyway, the world will be wrapped in the embers of the Ruinous Powers. Your creator will perish when the moment of extermination arrives."

The human dropped him violently onto a cracked ground, and walked towards where he had come at a leisurely pace. Barely outside the Shop, the Phantom Thieve whirled around, driving a deep, sharp glance into his dark, dark eyes. The blue flames that gushed from the most fanned her expression into a terrifying and demonic one.

"Goodbye, Jose..." he grabbed his mask and threw it into the air, his Persona forming between the blue embers. "Thanks for being an instrument for my emotional breakdown"

In his only good eye, Jose was able to distinguish how a mysterious crimson light shone throughout the Shop until it enveloped everything and felt how he was consumed, and then disappeared from existence along with his home.

* * *

Kasumi Yoshizawa's gaze was flat and distant as he kept his gaze fixed on the construction zone in what once must have been a large laboratory, but changed to that of a sports stadium. Beyond the huge protective wall, she could make out the semi-finished concrete and machinery in the distance. The afternoon light cast shadows on the pavement that grew like flowers. The quiet sound of the sea was heard in a silent and ghostly clamor. The last beasts of human sounds were two women who had passed behind her in search of ice cream.

"It is not a laboratory, it is a stadium ..." she had said in a voice as she lost herself in the wind as she watched as the two women left the area until they were alone.

Her life could not go from bad to worse with the terrible practice she had when she could not perform well in the school gym. The stunts and tricks were easy from her point of view, but the bad memory of how it should be done spoiled her feeling, reaching such a point of failure, which always happened several times to such a degree of feeling ashamed of herself humiliating herself for the lack of professionalism.

No matter how many opportunities she had to correct her rookie mistake, she failed.

She could be considered as a disappointment, a fraud that did not stop self-correcting, feeling responsible for defrauding the Athletics Club and its colleagues for the failures that she made from time to time.

Athletics was everything to her, even to her deceased twin sister, Sumire, whose promise to go to the internationals together was shattered when she was nearly run over while crossing the street, but Sumire had sacrificed herself to protect her. Her twin sister died when she saw a blood sprout come out of her upside down position. It was a deep shock, being left in his mind the limp and inert crimson eyes without any kind of life and the face similar to that of a run over animal.

For a moment, several images emerged like the filming of a movie: both trained together with the same coach in their gym classes, both shared the same room, both played with each other from a young age, both shared different tastes, but were always united by the blood ties that made them sisters ... until death separated them in an unfortunate tragic and unfortunate moment that no one expected.

Kasumi remembered when her trainer rewarded them both with ice cream in their good performances and the smile drawn on her sister's thin lips to be happy with the sweet taste of her ice cream; that was a memory that she would always keep engraved for the rest of her life, as well as at a time when Sumire pouted knowing that her food was mediocre when it came to preparing it, and in that she gave him the voice of the reason.

Two weeks after her death, she was unable to move on despite deep depression at the feeling that he would never see her again.

The despair, sadness, and anguish over the death of her younger sister plunged her into an intense pit of apathy and guilt. She never got over it, feeling responsible for not being aware of her own safety. That mistake of his cost Sumire's life and the promise of participating in international or academic games with other schools.

Her depressive state worsened to such an extent that she left everything, even she thought about killing herself, but her father intervened in it. Shinichi Yoshizawa took her to a psychologist where he gave her several terepias that made her understand that she should not feel guilty and responsible for Sumire's death, but to live from the experience and move on.

The therapy somehow made her feel soothing and thoughtful, as if some sort of divine mantle had completely blotted out all her sins.

To follow her dreams and honor the memory of her sister, she took the place at the Shujin Academy and enrolled in it as an exchange student where she began to have excellent grades in every subject given by teachers in her classroom. In gymnast she did well at first, but with the bad calculations in the acrobatics they emerged as if everything she had learned began to disappear and she was trapped in the darkness.

But even so, the causalities in his stay in Shujin were greatly affected by Suguru Kamoshida's confession that he mistreated boys in Physical Education classes and the sexual abuse you committed with female students, especially Shiho Suzui who this launched himself from the roof but by divine miracle he survived.

Everything went so fast for her that she felt dizzy and insecure in her own environment, feeling disoriented in a dark and deadly world where the wicked human machinations began to emerge from the deepest depths of each person's noble and kind appearance.

To her relief, the psychologist Takuto Maruki who assisted her a few weeks ago in moving forward so as not to feel guilty about Sumire's death had been hired by Principal Kobayakawa to help students affected by the abuse perpetrated by Kamoshida. Kasumi went to visit him in the office where the two had a long talk where she told him that she was not attacked by Kamoshida, and she also told him about her difficulties in picking up the rhythm of their movements.

Maruki recommended some advice to her that she should calm down and not be affected by the events that would only foment the depression that she had left behind two months ago. She followed those recommendations given by him and she proposed to herself to continue practicing.

Although given the practices in his memorial exercise of remembering his movements, her mood dropped as Sumire would not be by her side to witness her.

Avoiding falling into a depressive state before the games started with the participation of the Shujin Academy, Kasumi decided to clear her mind of taking a walk in the middle of the weekend in the Odaiba Coastal Park. The sea and the little vegetation with modern touches gave a relaxing aspect being not far from the city and with the Rainbow Bridge crossing in an arc. Many people frequented it for their physical activities or for romantic walks on a day off. For Kasumi, it was the right place where she could relax, freeing herself from the stress and pressure that affected her.

To his chagrin, it did not work.

"I'm useless ..." she muttered to herself with disappointment. "I am only causing trouble. To Dr. Maruki, to my team ..."

Frequenting the psychologist's office was seen as a nuisance in which she was unable to cope with her own personal problem. Psychologists served to guide and help people with complex dilemmas. Takuto Maruki was a good person, but going to his office multiple times was a shame on his part to waste his time with so many baby whiners.

"And I'm supposed to be the great Kasumi Yoshizawa ..."

She was a prodigy, a pride with which she had been born to be recognized as the best athlete in international games. It was as much his dream as his sister's that she would not allow herself to be dropped or trampled by others. As rough as the world she lived in was, she couldn't let that happen. Although, being an honorific student, her low performance affected her enough when listening to the talk she had with the director Kobayakawa and Maruki about her lack of inexperience when performing her acrobatics routine.

Takuto Maruki defended her by way of reason and understanding, but Kobayakawa's direct and objective criticism was as sharp as the edges of a leaf, managing to stab her in the heart, feeling how everything around her began to fall apart. . .

She wanted to cry and scream in that instant, but that childish action would only affect her even more than she was psychologically. Being in Odaiba would allow him to heal internally as a quiet place, but he did not.

"Huh? Eh?" She pulled her phone out of her pants pocket, and she watched with a puzzled expression as a strange logo appeared on the app touchscreen: it was a red-rimmed eye with a five-pointed star in the center. "What is this? I don't remember that I downloaded this application. Maybe it's a cell phone failure ..."

Her speech hung in the air as she watched in stunned amazement as the mysterious application began to expand, covering the entire screen.

"What?!" she yelled in horror. "My phone...!"

_"Starting navigation"_ the mysterious female robotic voice cut her speech amid panic.

"Navigation? "Kasumi said, cocking her head in confusion, puzzled by what was happening.

For an instant, she thought the situation couldn't get worse, and it seems that was the case when everything around her was distorted by the billowing red and dark patterns that seemed to shape all of reality and teleport her to another world.

* * *

A million things happened to her in Kasumi's mind about what she was witnessing if it was a dream or that it was all real.

At first, she experienced a slight dizziness in her vision when the entire plane of reality distorted with the appearance of waves, sending her to a kind of pocket universe where everything changed: the afternoon sun and the orange sky they were replaced by the nocturnal of the night illuminated by the moonlight and the stars. What was once a construction zone, took the form of a massive two hundred and thirty meter high building with futuristic designs, such as a glass sphere with elises inside, reflectors in the form of arches, metal vanes as skirts, a lower structure based on gray discs, and a gleaming disc sphere that made the sun. The ballas changed to elegant walls with ornate designs and gold finishes, as well as an elegant type gate, as if it were that of a palace.

It was unreal ... it was impossible than what must once have been the construction of a sports stadium had become a kind of futuristic laboratory, remembering the disappointment Maruki had when telling her that her idea was left behind by the few funds that merited creating it, and with the strange distortion, it seemed that this dream came true, in a way that she could not understand.

For a moment, she panicked, pinching or slapping herself in order for her to reason that she must be in an allusion effected by stress ... Although, however, she was not, to her own misfortune.

When she tried to stay calm, she felt a strange headache begin to form, feeling like a silent radio signal was affecting her psychologically; calling her, drawing her ...

Against her own instincts, she walked towards the gate without the slightest hint of controlling her own body, as if she had entered an unconscious trance where a mysterious force was pulling her like a puppet. A minute later she had appeared on a spacious path with white tile and mother-of-pearl walls with a few nooks and crannies leading to other rooms in the huge endless corridor of spiral-shaped stairs and elevators, as well as blue chambers on the walls and shape pillars Roman.

As if the situation couldn't get more disturbing as she woke her from her paranormal sleepwalking ... Sumire was in front of her, alive, or that was what she thought she saw.

"Sister ..." Kasumi's voice trembled, whispering, shocked. "Sumire ..."

It must be a hallucination, it must not be true ... her twin sister had been dead for two months ago ... there was no possibility what she was seeing was real. But, even so, just seeing her made her feel various internal emotions ... emotions like nostalgia, sadness, happiness, joy, it was all that she did not stop containing.

Sumire was her vivid reflection, albeit different in some ways, such as her freshly straight flowing hair and her use of glasses. The outfit her sister was wearing was a one-piece blue leotard that was always worn in gym classes that the two wore in their workouts.

"But ... what are you doing here?"

_"I ..."_ Sumire's tone was that of an unsuccessful radio frequency, static ringing in it. _"Is my fault..."_

"What...?" Kasumi said.

_"Kasumi ... You have to ..."_

"Stop!" she yelled, unable to bear a feeling of frustration and rage at the thought that her sister was alive. "Enough!"

A strong headache hit her, losing control of her body and falling to the ground. Kasumi clutched her head and she went into a fetal position, feeling the pain increase.

"Agh!"

Sumire's cognitive form tried to help her, but a Shadow manifested behind her and struck her with a long, slender arms crossed whip. Cognition stretched her arm in a vague attempt to get closer to her sister, trying to draw her attention as she watched her writhe in her mental agony. Soon she would disappear if he didn't try to contact her.

_"You have to ..."_ she didn't manage to say the full words as she disappeared into dark smoke until she was gone.

The Shadow, whose figure was tall and slim with a dark purple appearance, looked at her with insignificance and contempt.

_**"Heretic. You have rejected the lord's mercy ..."**_ With a cry of fury, dark red spots enveloped him, and his form was changed to that of a Byakhee. _**"Accept our lord. Regret the foolishness born of your pain"**_

"What are you talking about?" Kasumi spluttered, standing up, facing her to the creature.

_**"Listens"**_

The silent hallway was filled with voices, voices that Kasumi recognized, but were not entirely friendly; some belittled her for her useless performance in practices, noting her contempt and disappointment in her lack of learning. Insults, annoying murmurs, was all Kasumi heard: a disgrace to the team and to the school ... a pimple on the ass to be exact ... a stain that deserved to be swept away.

"... I've had enough" a loud, detonating voice came from his mouth. The fists turned white as they were clenched tight, and a determined look flashed in his red eyes. "That I'm not up to it? As if I didn't know better? Still ... I don't give a damn what people say about me. I don't think I can tolerate anyone speaking ill of my dream!"

She walked from side to side, without taking her eyes off the being that was suspended in midair.

"It is for my sake" there was sadness and apathy when she began to speak, recalling the vain effort to become a professional gymnast, the dream she and her sister had promised since childhood. "Pushing myself no further, demanding results ... And now you blame me for failure? I will remind you who you are talking to. I am ..." The red eyes gleamed with an intense ruby, the glow of a proud red, the deep red of a spirit that would never surrender until it achieved its goal. "I am Kasumi Yoshizawa!"

_**"How stubborn"**_

A female voice spoke from the depths of her mind, sounding in a warm, cold tone on a winter lake without any spring weather.

The stab Kasumi felt was painful, almost like a stabbing from the blade of a knife. It was hugging and burning, like a kind of fire that was eating away at her from inside.

**_"Instead of protecting yourself in the ashes ... your goal is glory, so you already know what you risk"_**

Blue flames gushed out of his skin inexplicably. They did not burn it, but traced fine lines in a neat and clear pattern, ending in a black mask with silver highlights.

_**"If those are the shoes you decide to wear ... we will dance to the end"**_

With a swift, graceful movement, Kasumi removed her mask.

Blue light shone with high volume throughout the hallway, evolving her, making her the new rebirth of her awakening. His body glowed a whitish pink, as if it were a spiritual being. She took a stretch, her heels together in a crossed position and her arms raised in the air, while her hands traced, drawing a flower opening its petals. Flaming embers of a azure blue formed in each part, like that of a phoenix; black thigh-high stockings, stiletto heels that resemble ballet shoes on top, a strapless black leotard over a black gown jacket with gold buttons, a chain belt formed around her hip with two silver rose motifs and a scabbard for her sheathed rapier, a black choker around her neck, red gloves, and a dark ribbon tied to her ponytail.

_**"I am you, you are me. Accept the contract, the spell it imposes on you"**_

Her Persona was the fine figure of a slim and fragile attribute dancer, in a bluish-crystal whole with a gold-detailed, dark-patterned skirt with a diamond-shaped amethyst in the center. Her onyx-colored face denoted her feminine features, such as pink lips and light blue eyes. The hair was gleaming gold with a blue bow and a cape with movie feathers. The legs were slender, covered by their glass skin with elegant finishes and sharp, glass-like yellow toe tips.

"I want a rematch" Kasumi spoke with a determined and dashing tone. She grabbed the rapier handle, pulling it out of its sheath and pointing it at the Shadow. "And this time ... I will go for everyone with Cendrillon!"

The Shadow directed a fire attack with the formation of a flaming vortex. Kasumi dodged it with grace and perfection by reacting; she countered with a storm of blue blades invoked by Cendrillon. The Shadow roared in fury at the damage, and it summoned a fireball in the direction of his opponent. The fire attack was blocked with a blue energy shield, and Kasumi squeezed the moment in slashing diagonally with impetus and dexterity. The cut inflicted by the girl stunned him, but it instantly regenerated, and as revenge, the Byakhee fired a torrent of dark nebula. Kasumi protected herself with a protection spell, a transparent crystal shield.

The Shadow charged furiously, throwing skillful and sinister blows at Kasumi, but the girl dodged him like a hare. The Byahkee's arms were seized by Cendrillon, holding it tight, giving Kasumi a chance to deliver the final blow, finishing off with fine and precise cuts by the edge of the rapier, and then being eliminated in a wraparound explosion generalized by the impact between two light spears. which converged against the cut pieces.

Kasumi breathed out, feeling relieved that the creature had died from the attack inflicted by her Persona.

"That was exhausting, very exhausting ..." she muttered to herself, exhausted and exhausted. She looked at her Persona. "Thanks, Cendrillon"

The Persona bowed majestically in response, then disappeared in smoke.

"I suppose it is all over," she said to herself, confident that the creature she had just eliminated would not appear, thinking about the regeneration of the wound inflicted by the cut of her rapier. The lances summoned by Cendrillon guaranteed their elimination permanently. Though there was another problem though: "How do I get out of here? Hmmm, I have to stay calm right now. Maybe if I focus on remembering where I came from, maybe I can find my way out ... if the with him"

She probed, focusing around her amid infinite corridors and futuristic buildings. In each hallway it would lead him to other rooms, risking getting lost or encountering other monsters. The setting itself was fascinating with detailed sci-fi tabs featuring advanced technology and gadgets that were considered impossible to manufacture, but she wanted to be at home ... she didn't want her father to feel worried about her lateness.

She must have found the exit immediately.

"... Maybe I can help you"

Kasumi screamed in fright, she bouncing a kangaroo and shifting her gaze with trembling eyes to the source of the unknown voice. In front of her was a young of the same age dressed in a black ankle length coat with a turtleneck with gold accents, black pants, brown and black wink pickers, and red gloves. His black hair was tousled and wavy, looking a bit unruly with his hair style. His eyes were a very sharp, intense jet over a white domino mask with black stripes.

The boy was not alone, he was accompanied by a black and white cat with anthropomorphic biped with a large head, large blue eyes, a yellow scarf around his neck and a utility belt.

"W-Who are you?" Kasumi asked, clearing her throat due to the scare she went through.

"We are friends" the cat spoke, reassuring her. "We have not come to harm you"

"Huh ..." she sputtered hesitantly and looked at them critically. "Why should I trust you? Is it a trap? Are you like that shape-shifting monster?"

"Please calm down" the cat commented calmly. "We are not Shadows, but real people"

"Shadows?" Kasumi asked. "Is that the name of the monster that I fought?"

"Acertively, yes," said the talking cat. "Your athletic performance and agility have been spectacular in fighting the Shadow. The awakening of your Personae made sure you became a good fighter."

Kasumi felt unsure whether she should be praised for the ovation or distressed and confused as she was talking to a cartoon-like cat. Being in this place if it was affecting her enough, as well as her mental and psychological state. Her gaze focused on the boy who had a calm and reserved attitude, and for an instant, she recognized him.

"You are the transfer student!"

The boy smiled sardonically at him.

"... I am" he replied with simplicity and a touch of sarcasm. "It is a pleasure to see you again"

"Huh?" Kasumi cocked her head.

"... On the subway train, when that old lady wanted to give you your seat, but a man quickly sat down when you stopped"

Kasumi's cheeks turned red as she remembered with embarrassment the altruism towards the old lady who was looking for a position in the interior filling of the train.

"Ri-Right! I didn't realize you were the new one. I thought you were from another classroom"

The boy said nothing, just shrugged in response.

"But ..." she began to say, focusing on the changed subject. "How come you guys came all the way here? How come you got those clothes?"

"Well, it's a bit complicated to explain ..." explained the cat, until he was interrupted by a gurutal roar. "It seems we have been discovered. We have to get out of here right away. We will explain later"

* * *

The three returned to the outskirts of the building after a distortion of reality. Everything was in its place without any alteration; the sunset continued with its usual color without falling the night, where the sun continued to shine on the half starry horizon of stars. It was no longer in the rare lab of the future, but a stadium under construction.

"Wow, we're back in ..." Kasumi looked at her appearance; his civilian attire was still in place. "Eh? My clothes also returned to normal"

"This was your appearance before entering the Metaverse. We just returned" said the cat, whose appearance changed to that of a quadruped domestic feline, just like the boy, whose appearance was that he was wearing glasses and wearing a white buttoned shirt open with the sleeves rolled up over a short-sleeved black shirt with blue jeans and brown shoes. He wore not wearing the mask, but rather glasses that gave him the appearance of fitting into society.

"Come back? Have we gone somewhere?"

"Well, you see ..." the talking cat hesitated.

"Please tell me you know what's going on here" Kasumi's insistence was of direct seriousness. "I need to know what just happened to me"

"I know how you feel, but ..." the cat looked at the boy, seeking help. "What do we do, Ren?"

"... There is no other choice," said the young, Ren, calmly. "You have to tell him the truth"

"Yes" the cat agreed, "you're right" He focused his gaze on Kasumi. "Okay, I'll tell you everything from the beginning"

At the time the cat named Morgana explained the whole truth to her, Kasumi felt lost and overwhelmed, she trying to process the released information and search for a sense of logic, but she couldn't add it with something that went beyond a simple fiction. Every word out of Morgana's mouth was real without any invention. What happened in the mysterious laboratory and in the awakening of her inner power called Persona her to open her mind to a new reality in which fiction surpassed reality.

Metaverse, Palaces, Personas, everything was true and not a dream that she had when being teleported. Her life was in danger, but that awakening made her come out of a shell that kept her locked up. It was a rebirth of his former being left behind and reborn into a new opportunity. His depression and uncertainty disappeared to make way for a new Kasumi Yoshizawa.

Then there was the other revelation: his classmate was the first to enter that hidden world created out of society's distorted thoughts and hearts. He was the leader of the Phantom Thieves of Heart, responsible for reforming Kamoshida and Madarame from their criminal misdeeds.

They were heroes, but some saw them as criminals who deserved to be imprisoned. The ravages of mental shutdowns that happened in the city was a factor in which the Phantom Thieves are blamed and repudiated, but Morgana had told him that it was not them, but another user who caused the accidents, since the lack of control happened four months ago. of the formation of the group, which indicates that the subject who is nicknamed as Black Mask discovered the way to enter the Metaverse and cause mental closures.

This went beyond rational expectation.

"I know it is difficult to assimilate everything at once" Morgana had said.

"... It is complicated at the beginning" said Kasumi, "but what I have seen with my own eyes ... The truth is that you are like an open book, dear pussycat"

"Dear pussycat? Really?"

"Your cat appearance is pretty at first glance, although I understand your situation that you are not human"

"... I guess you're right about that" Morgana sighed disappointedly. "Out of curiosity, what were you doing here?"

"Well ..." Kasumi looked down at the ground, wistful. "I was third in the last meeting. I am not proud, but it seems that the school has been less satisfied in improving its reputation since you reformed Kamoshida. This morning I was sent to the guidance department. The school has advised me that I can stop being the honorific student if I don't get better results. It would be because of my own inability to succeed in the world of gymnastics, so it doesn't seem entirely unfair to me. But I also heard that director Kobayakawa said that I am a waste. I've gotten Dr. Maruki into this mess, since he was with me when I got the news. That's the worst."

"I understand the pressure you feel trying to stand out," Morgana condoled.

"That's why I came here ... and suddenly I saw myself in that place we just returned from. But everything will be fine so far" his trace of melancholy disappeared, replaced by a recovered obtinism. "What happened there has helped me overcome it. Now I am going to make my dream come true"

"You are leaving, ehh?" Morgana joked. "But how could you find a Palace? From what you've told me, it seems like a coincidence"

"... The Navigator" Ren commented, participating in the conversation after being silent without saying anything.

"The Navigator?" Kasumi said confused.

"I suppose that is the most logical" said Morgana. "Hey, would you mind if we take a look at your phone? If the Navigator is there, we might know who that Palace was with the search history"

"Sure, I have it ..." Kasumi reached into her pocket and pulled it out, but her expression was saddened when she saw him with the black screen. "Sorry ... this won't do any good"

"Why?" Ren asked.

"It's out of batteries. My phone has been in trouble for a while, so it may have something to do with it."

"Wow, really?" Morgana muttered, disappointed. "Shouldn't you take it to have it looked at?" he groaned. "Well, it's not that we were looking for that Palace, so nothing happens. Anyway, we can't go for its user if we don't make a unanimous decision"

"Let's see, I have a question" Kasumi replied. "You are the Phantom Thieves, right? Does that mean you should consult with your group on doing these reformations?"

"That would depend on whether they are willing to do it," Morgana explained. "If they are busy, then we will do the work and report the situation to our colleagues in devising a combat plan"

"I see ..." Kasumi agreed. "But how do they plan to get into one?"

"Information, name, characterization of his personality ..." Morgana recited, "this is how we work to enter the Palaces"

"Oh of course" Kasumi agreed. "Well, since it was clear what I wanted to know, I'd better be going. My father must be worried if I take too long. Thank you for the explanations you have given me, and I promise not to tell anyone of their identities. Count on me "

"Thank you, Kasumi" Morgana thanked with a smile. "Ah! And before you leave; if you ever want to join our group, call us if you want to do so"

"I'll keep that in mind. Bye."

Kasumi watched them go the way they had come to disappear on the horizon, while she returned home with a new experience and a new rebirth in her life that would give all of her spirit and energy to follow her dreams.

* * *

**_"... Your encounter with penitent Kasumi Yoshizawa, or should I say Sumire Yoshizawa, has been most prudent and attentive, as has Takuto Maruki"_ **Orchestrated Tzeentch with his distorted tone. _**"You performed well in approaching the girl who usurped the image of her late sister to raise her state of moral recognition through the power employed by the Persona of Takuto Maruki, Azathoth. The penitent approached you and your two companions to strengthen his power to distort intimate frustrations and make it a reality. To eradicate him, you will have to go to his sections to gain his trust, he will surely be interested in you because he has seen you leave the Suguru Kamoshida Palace ..."**_

_**"... And when you do,"**_ Khorne intoned with strident fury,_** "I want to see him suffer. I want to hear his eternal suffering in billions of cries of agony. Break his spirit, break his determination to help others, insult his I dream of breaking it internally. Enemies with a broken value are considered worthy opponents. Make sure you get stronger with every enemy you get."**_

_**"... The time will soon come when your companions will face the real terror that awaits them,"** _Nurgle commented. **_"Their bodies will be eaten by my bacteria, and their souls will go through a tormenting torment of infections and corruption. Their states of health will diminish until they rot in their own diseases"_**

_**"... The girls in your group are a beauty enchantment, especially Sumire Yoshizawa and Ann Takamaki ... a shame that soon their feminine power essences will disappear from the existential plane"**_ Slaneesh's comment was mocking instead of empathetic towards the two Phantom Thieves that were considered beautiful. _**"Hmm, maybe use them to strengthen my daemons and feed on their strong spirit essences. The taste would be exquisite."**_

Ren envisioned how girls who once had sympathy would be butchered or disfigured in the process by the servants of the androgynous deity of Chaos. It would be a scene where he wouldn't get lost ... he would see how those bitches deserve what they deserve. Ann, Haru, Makoto, Kawakami, Takemi, Ohya, Sae, Sumire, the twins, Shihaya, Futaba ... those women were ballasts and bullshit calves to be idiots and stupid; they were nothing more than dead weights in a decomposed society.

"... I will do my best to make the two penitents trust me, masters" Ren bowed his head. "The penitent Takuto Maruki asked us to come to his office to assess our psychological states. I will hide my presence when Maruki uses his Persona to probe my state. I will be aware of every movement he makes. Establishing a link with him will allow me to degrade so much his power as his influence on the other patients who come to his consultations at school"

Insane laughter echoed like the singing of an opera.

**_"You think and act like every good trickster must be,"_** Tzeentch praised. _**"Keep that attitude of yours without drawing Yaldabaoth's attention for the long weeks and months, he began to scrutinize you for the change, especially the death of the cognitive boy named Jose"**_

"... Was he created by someone other than Igor and Philemon?" Ren asked.

_**"No,"**_ Tzeentch said. _**"Jose was created by someone else on the board, an individual who watches over humanity and studies its complexity. His mere identity is not interesting for when the Earth is subdued under our rule as true terror. The gears of the stage are being put in march, Makoto Niijima began spying on them under the orders of Director Kobayakawa to upgrade her grades and obtain a spot for a paid university, kicking off the heist to Junya Kaneshiro"**_

Ren growled like an animal going into rage; Makoto Niijima was one of the most obnoxious people she had ever come across at her school, she was nothing more than pure appearance who had an internal fragility and fear that hated her so much. Their stubbornness in overcoming their led them to get into trouble when she brought them into Kaneshiro's club and he took a photo of them, forcing them to enter the Palace and reform it before he denounced them.

Makoto Niijima deserved to die, both she and her older sister, both deserved death. He would make sure to make them suffer for the psychological damage they caused him. Makoto Niijima was useless, she is the head of the Student Council, but she could not stop the morbidities that Kamoshidas did to girls and boys.

**_"Your hatred for her will strengthen your strength"_ **commented the Architect of Destiny. _**"The more anger and resentment you have towards them, the more strength you will gain. Use the hatred that you carry within and transform it into power. Your training as our emissary of destruction has begun; we will put tests to strengthen your physical and mental abilities when you touch the time you face Yaldabaoth and Philemon's minions. Finish the reform with the mob leader, and then we'll give you the assignment for your new mission"**_

"... I will gladly, masters" Ren said with a bow, returning to the material plan.

* * *

**Well guys, I hope you liked this very long chapter that I just wrote. I changed Kasumi's incorporation into the plot the moment after Madarame's heist, which planned for her to join the Phantom Thieves in the next chapter. Another thing is that Ren's mission as a hitman of the Ruinous Powers will be a final boss of Persona 4 that you should know.**

**See you in the next chapter.**


	5. Chapter 5

**A thank you to the people who liked this story. I thank you very much for contributing your criticisms and comments throughout the plot.**

**I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

A sensation of tense discomfort shook Yaldabaoth through his container that owned the Velvet Room when he felt like some sort of mysterious disturbance had just rocked inside Mementos.

It was strange, even inexplicable, to someone like him as a deity generated from the distorted desire of humans to live under the weight of the law in the midst of a corrupted society. His other half that was in the Depths served as a motion sensor and camera that monitored the activity of the human and his companions in his works as the Phantom Thieves of Heart. But nevertheless, the strange anomaly left him puzzled.

He could not see it even when he had Igor as his new eyes, but he could feel the aura that made up the anomaly; It was dark, surrounded by an air of malevolence that seemed like an intense and infernal flame, covered by malice, hatred, rancor, anger, nostalgia, regrets ... and above all, the desire for revenge. Those were the attributes that distinguished a human being by his nature, but Yaldabaoth had never felt that intense aura of darkness coming from a single human and whose internal energy reviewed the Shadows stronger than Mementos, as its guardian, the Reaper.

On the stage clouded by the warp's darkness, the anura of anomie intensified when he came into contact with a Shadow on the Path of Qimraunt, only to be killed in the process. The anomaly was not alone there at the time of the murder; a new power signature was from a safe area. Yaldabaoth studied him as a cognitive being in the form of a child who looked curiously at the scene; the boy was scared when the anomaly identified him. The boy ran to his toy car where he accelerated, escaping the anomaly, without even thinking that he was following.

He hid in an area that the God of Control could not determine, but he distinguished a room where the cognitive child hid. However, the anomaly had discovered it, and what was known about the room was a simple blur that led to an exploration.

The boy had died along with the room when he sent Shadows while exploring the scene of the incident.

A scar-like opening of about nine centimeters with a wide crater tore through the walls like a deep and serious wound, that was what he could see. Such power to cause that impact was not to be underestimated. He knew about the cognitive boy who had been frequenting Mementos since his appearance by keeping him monitored, but the anomaly made him disappear, as if it were something easy.

What was the mysterious anomaly? Where he came from? How could you get into Mementos? Those were the questions that Yaldabaoth asked himself internally as he was surrounded by doubt and uncertainty.

He was dealing with a third player to his stage equation, but who was he?

_'He was human, there was no doubt about his humanoid composition and appearance,'_ he said with analytical deduction. _'That dark aura covered him like a shield, impossible to see, but do not admit that it is a human who has caused such destruction. Hmmm ... that power ... that hatred ... that rancor ... goes beyond comprehension. All those emotions combined as a double-edged sword ... hmmm ... '_

The only individuals who had access to enter the Metaverse were the human Goro Akechi who followed the orders of the Conspiracy, and the newcomer who gave him Wildcard's second power, Ren Amamiya.

If he made a logically established and direct assumption, Goro Akechi was not responsible for the murder; his goal was to create chaos with the closings and elimination of competition from Masayoshi Shido who poses a threat to his candidacy for Prime Minister, the murdered Shadowed Being Youji Isshiki, the younger brother of Wakaba Isshiki, the government researcher and scientist who proposed the existence of the Metaverse when Shido decided to snatch his investigation by ordering his murder.

As reported on the Shadowed Being, Youji Isshiki was a despot who profited from financial funds by caring for his niece while wasting money on gambling; He annoyed Sojiro Sakura to give him the money after he took his niece for the bad care, coming to the point of threatening him if he did not advance his pay in inventing an excuse that the owner of the Leblanc mistreated his niece. It could be said that his death was justified by the owner's internal desire, but his heart resists living by his own internal conflicts in raising his sins.

So ... who did it? Was it a new member? It could be a possibility, but if you looked at it logically, the mysterious individual who exuded that dark aura showed a grudge against Youji Isshiki, a grudge mixed with a bitter feeling of familiarity towards the despot who benefited from the easy economic resource.

_'Maybe it's him?'_ Ren Amamiya would be the number one suspect Yaldabaoth had come to mind after two weeks had passed since his recruitment as the one who would bring hope to humanity through his work to reform the Shadowed Beings; He saw in the boy a great spirit of struggle that was hidden deep inside him, a decisive value in being free from his own imprisonment, a rebel who would oppose the self-taught system ... although, nevertheless, there were certain doubts he did not overlook: The boy did not show any surprise when he woke up in the Velvet Room, his answers were direct when he was told about the circumstances in which society was heading towards calamity, and his gaze showed a serene and reserved appearance, but those dark gray eyes showed a different perspective; Cold, frozen, analytical and observant, having in them an air of familiarity with the environment as something that he would have been on occasion.

As for the Persona, it simply filled him with discontent over his demonic appearance in the garb of a jester in noble attire. After all, the Personas were the internal manifestations of the psyches shaped according to their own personality that represents their rebellious spirit. That manifestation that reflected the rebellious spirit was the opposite of what he was thinking: a demon in a trickster's suit, and not just any demon, but was described in Germanic folklore for his greed and arrogance in tempting both sides to win their trust and confidence. get away with evading danger.

The human, Ren Amamiya, embodied not only the spirit of a trickster, but the reflection of his own personal darkness.

_'This cannot be tolerable!'_ Yaldabaoth grumbled angrily._ 'If the human is the user of the mysterious dark aura or not, then I will have to take serious measures'_

The scenario created was that Ren Amamiya would perform his role as the Trickster of Hope in his work to save society, while Goro Akechi continued to wreak havoc on his affiliation as the Trickster of Chaos in following Shido's orders as his assassin.

Those two pillars represented the internal struggle for the survival of a humanity on the verge of collapse, but this slight paradigm shift could ruin everything.

He could not allow a scenario established from a few months ago to fall into the hands of a single individual who yearns for destruction and sadism instead of saving humans.

If Ren Amamiya really hid an evil appearance underneath an innocent face, then there was a risk that a new evil could lead him to perdition ... just as Nyarlathotep and Nyx had been.

With a strong fury almost suppressed, a severe blow exploded against the desk, echoing with a crash throughout the prison and attracting the attention of the twins who were startled by the shock of their master's call.

"I want you to keep an eye on the Trickster in all his activities in the human world and then bring me his report when they are done," he ordered with direct authority towards the twins, who these two nodded without question.

_'I will not tolerate a human like him making fun of me'_ thought the God of Control with boiling anger. _'Ren Amamiya, don't think you're going to get away with it if you hide something from my eyes'_

* * *

Makoto walked down the hallways leading to the rooftop that was once closed after Shiho Suzui's near-suicide but was reopened after everything catastrophic happened during Kamoshida's arrest. She felt nervous as she approached the final stretch where the three students who always met on the roof should be when recess played, although said nervousness that was often normal in her must be subdued by the seriousness of the affair. Keeping her calm in situations where the seriousness of an investigator in dealing with a case was warranted was what Makoto admired, and so she must not have made a rookie mistake.

After all, Principal Kobayakawa had given her the task of investigating the identities of the Phantom Thieves of Heart that were supposed to be any student in the Shujin Academy, under the promise that he would give a place to a university in first level if she did her job. She did not hesitate to accept it, feeling she was responsible for notifying him when she obtained the information collected.

For Makoto, obtaining the quota was a divine blessing that she had longed for; it was an opportunity that she would not instantly miss when she accepted his job. Having that quota would allow her to enter a university with expenses paid without her older sister paying the tuition. It was a weight that took off Sae from the stress of working at the SIU as a prosecutor that many times she was busy with her work to take care of her after the death of her father, which was a great responsibility to take care of her ... although on some occasions there was a point of friction between the Niijima sisters.

As her father died from a truck in the line of duty, she forced her older sister to juggle between handling cases in court and raising her as she was a teenager alone, feeling herself like a cement sack that was impossible to do. use, increasing among them a low esteem that could break a division that kept them both as a family. Makoto was sorry for being a responsibility towards his sister, she wanting her father to be alive right now, but unfortunately one had to settle for the challenges that life posed. It was crude for her, but she made a promise to herself that she would strive to level up her subjects until she achieved high academic achievement where she could obtain a university quota to ease the burden Sae was holding.

It was heavy for her to study, but the effort paid off when she became a third-year honor student and president of the Student Council of the Shujin Academy. She was happy that she achieved, although the students were not satisfied to see her incompetent and unable to work, because no one treated her seriously for her submissive attitude, receiving ridicule and unpleasant murmurs towards her person. for the irresponsibility of remaining silent in the face of the perversities that Kamoshida did towards the students in the Physical Education Classes.

The almost death of Shiho Suzui affected her so much that she felt guilty and responsible for not saving her from her cruel tragic destiny by witnessing her jump off the roof, being aware of the physical and emotional abuse that the girl had endured throughout her body. Seeing Shiho being taken to the hospital made her crack like porcelain, victim of her own reserved, shy and quiet attitude.

She was a shame as the Student Council president, a shame for her dead father, for her sister, and for herself.

She had been weak and left for not having provided help; She did not have the necessary courage as her father did when he was an officer when he was in the world of the living. She wanted to be like him, but her fragility in a world full of corruption and walking abominations kept her like a small bird among eagles and scavengers.

Then the Phantom Thieves of Heart entered the picture, and the rest was history when they did the job of mysteriously reforming Kamoshida when he declared his depraved misdeeds before all.

It was divine and miraculous justice when she heard it among the students, that the Phantom Thieves were the true vigilantes that society needed to save the oppressed and innocent, as was the example of Daisuke Takanashi's reform for his attitude of being an infamous bully who bullied others; then it was specified that Yoshimura Sakoda used Daisuke as a pawn for exposing her intimidation as a puppet; Another reformed was Yumeko Mogami who harassed her boyfriend by recording him with his phone in a hallway upstairs. Those demonstrations of justice made her feel a pang of jealousy and frustration at being plunged into her own depression hole.

With Madarame's reform from two weeks ago, a flaming spark of determination and conviction reactivated her dull spirit; If the Phantom Thieves were considered by some to be vigilantes, then she would do everything in her power to find him and compel them to show them if they really help people. And at some point in her exhausting investigative work, it seemed that fate decided to intervene in her search for the truth: Ryuji Sakamoto declared in all her honesty of a ape in heat in the schoolyard the activities carried out as the Phantom Thieves.

She recorded everything, and then she stored it on her phone; She was not going to report the revealing finding to Kobayakawa, but instead chose to follow her decision to judge the group's actions with her own eyes, wanting to have a perspective that the Phantom Thieves use their abilities for purposes of solidarity and justice towards the others, and for this, she put them to the test with a job that had done so much damage to the students ... a big shot for short.

She reached the final leg of her walk; she took a few steps toward the door, she inhaled deeply and then she exhaled. She was nervous, but she suppressed it when she stepped outside on the roof with sunlight bathing the clear blue sky. The three teenagers noticed her appearance when they saw her with surprise on their faces, especially the two blondes who gave her sharp eyes.

"What do you want?" Ryuji replied with a tone almost hiding her anger.

Nerves seeped into Makoto at the vulgar student's hostile tone, making her tense, but she didn't back down when she spoke in direction:

"The pretend appearance game ends here"

The two blonds looked at each other with inconsistent expressions, while the transfer student didn't show any emotion in what was happening.

"I know the misunderstandings are being made in what I am referring to" Makoto continued speaking, intoning her voice in one of severity that was adjusted to that of a senior officer, "but perhaps this will make them change their minds"

Makoto took her phone out of her pocket and played the recording taken when she played it, reacting alarmism and impression between the two blondes and not the transfer student who maintained a calm state, generating in Makoto a state of disagreement and discomfort.

"No way ..." Ryuji's voice was like a whisper that was lost in an echo.

"Impossible ..." Ann brought both hands to her mouth in shock, stunned and shocked.

"... That was to be expected" the transfer student's voice was so casual that it caught the attention of the three of them. "You did an excellent job in espionage, which must be said to be a great achievement"

The three of them stared at her with stunned expressions at the indifference of the matter, as if it wasn't much.

"Eh?! Did you know that?!" Ryuji questioned the transfer student critically.

The boy shrugged nonchalantly, his expression still calm without changing.

"I thought I imagined such things when I felt someone spying on my back, but I did not care ... well, or so I thought"

Makoto felt disoriented and confused; Did the transfer student know that she was spying on him but made no move to catch her? Definitely it gave her bad feelings when listening as her mind told her that she should not get into a kind of invisible danger that surrounded that aura of calm and serenity about the transfer student.

The criminal record reports were so clear that she kept a high profile as a watchdog over him; having a student with such a background in his file altered the dangers that he could be a danger to others, and as president of the Student Council it was her duty to be aware of what was happening at the institution, although her work was lousy because of her low sense.

Ren Amamiya was to be observed and analyzed after being paroled; Sometimes appearances were deceiving in the blink of an eye by showing calm demeanor. She would make sure not to take her eye off him.

"H-right ..." agreed Makoto, whose voice was hesitant and quiet. "I have followed them all this time when the Kamoshida thing happened. Director Kobayakawa gave me the task of doing it under my duty as President of the Student Council to ensure the well-being of the institution"

The two blondes muttered curses and swear words in low tones so that she would not hear him, while Ren spoke calmly:

"... How did you know it was us?"

"It was complicated when I started investigating" she admitted with a sigh, "but after doing a self-analysis of the circumstances, I came to the conclusion that the suspects that make up the Phantom Thieves must be students with rancor and hatred towards the aggressor, that is to say, Kamoshida, the first victim of the reform of the heart. To reach that deduction, it was necessary to study the scenario and those involved in the attack, which required a list of the students who were under his classes, leading me to possible suspects who were involved in the change: Ryuji Sakamoto, the person who had a dispute that led to him having an injured leg; Ann Takamaki, the foreign girl who was always by Kamoshida's side at all times to the point of being recognized as his lover. And, the cherry on the cake, the exchange student with a criminal record who was seen interacting with Kamoshida, Ren Amamiya. Of course he could It was to include its new member, Yusuke Kitagawa, a student at Kosei High School and a former apprentice to Madarame; with all united the Phantom Thieves of Heart are formed"

Ryuji and Ann were stunned by the statement perfectly explained by their heavy documentation and investigation work that she had taken based on the guidelines of the criminologists in the investigations regarding the crimes, frauds and lies that each human being exposed in their language bodily. Naoto Shirogane was his inspiration when using those detective tactics when he captured the killer in Inaba and he put it into practice by collecting information on who the Phantom Thieves were.

"Heh! Bravo, bravo" Ren applauded with a kind of lively air. "Your detective deduction is commendable with a fine sense of perception"

Makoto tried to hide her blush at the transfer student's praise or sarcasm for his research analysis, but she just got it out of her as she felt her cheeks tint almost red.

"I-It's true!" she said, between timidly cut. "I-I had to analyze their meetings that they frequented both in classes and outside of classes, reaching the point that the compilation gave an excellent point of genuineness. But I do not understand how they do that ability to make people confess their misdeeds: Blackmail? Hypnosis? How do they do it?"

There was a slight tense silence in which neither of the two blondes stood up to her for their annoying pseud-intellectualism that many hated her.

"What you gonna do?" Ren replied, her usual calm and casual voice appearing to lighten the dense, heavy atmosphere. "You have evidence that we are the Phantom Thieves by having it recorded on your cell phone, which gives you the right to accuse us as those responsible for the changes of heart and the accidents of mental closures. Do it if you want to do it; be back to the cell would not affect me at all, feeling it if it were my room. The institution cannot have ties with criminals who can tarnish its reputation than it was with a degenerate coach"

The three of them were shocked and stunned at the cold and direct response Ren had thrown like a sharp knife that managed to deepen the flesh. There was a kind of spectral flash when he adjusted his glasses, forming a white glow in them that gave way to intense and deep eyes that seemed to be made by the Void of the cosmos itself that seemed to mentally drill the president of the Student Council.

An icy chill ran down Makoto's spine until she was shaken and, mysteriously, scared. She put aside that dreadful emotion that engulfed her and returned to the conversation:

"No ... I will not accuse them"

"Really?" Ren questioned, folding his arms and frowning; her tone was dry, sharp, and icy. "What did it take you not to do?"

Makoto gulped as she felt secreted and slapped invisibly at the hostility she received from the transfer student. For an instant, she wanted to scold him, but she swallowed it inwardly as a kind of warning that her mind told her that she had to maintain a straight and serious posture, the model that her older sister used at work as a prosecutor of the SIU.

She sighed as she spoke

"I ... I decided not to because ..." She trailed off, feeling her words being spoken with an air of fragility and delicacy, the intonation of a six-year-old girl, but Makoto had left that experience behind. childish with a father in the living world that only photographic images appeared to her as a peaceful and innocent life. At this time, in this dark and gloomy society there was no place for the weak, but for the strongest and most adapted in survival in a jungle full of lurking predators. She had to be strong like Sae, and for that reason, she sharpened her voice in showing her determination: "... because I want to verify that it is that justice they are talking about"

The student cocked her head to the side with no change in her calm expression, while Ann and Ryuji looked at her with blinking eyes.

"Than?" Ryuji had replied by raising an eyebrow.

"I am the only one who knows your secret" she sentenced directly. "If they prove that what they do is fair, I will erase the audio"

The three students that made up the Phantom Thieves looked at her curiously.

"What's the deal in return?" Ren asked askance through her glasses that sparkled an obsidian glow.

"There is a heart that I want to change"

"Who exactly are we talking about?" the transfer student deepened.

"Hmm, so it's not impossible," she corroborated quietly. "The one with a gangster"

"A gangster?!" Ann expressed questioningly.

"What are you talking about?!" Ryuji furtively questioned.

"They call themselves like that" Makoto said sincerely. "They seem to be responsible for the increase in cyber-scams. The worst thing is that, when they have you in their sights, they do not stop threatening you until they succeed. They force you to participate in your scams, threaten your family and destroy you life"

"Holy shit ..." Ryuji whispered, widening her eyes. Makoto observed that Ren Amamiya did not express any emotion on the fragile subject and continued speaking without looking away:

"It seems that among the victims there are some Shujin students"

"No!" Ann snapped.

"Her main objective is youngs" Makoto explained seriously, putting the topic very tense of what she was.

"What's the boss's name?" Ren Amamiya asked in her usual tone of voice without any change.

"No one knows," she admitted with a sigh, feeling frustrated that she was pending on the case but she was unable to obtain the provider's name. "The victims have been threatened so that they do not testify. The police do not even know what is happening"

"Do you want us to start there?" Ann replied.

"They should be able to with this ... if they really are the Phantom Thieves. Or is Akechi right that they are against justice?"

Ann and Ryuji looked at each other with questioning, while Ren replied in a calm, dry and cutting tone:

"... We do things in a cautious and careful way. Tell us the details"

"The focus of activity is on Shibuya" she reported. "It's all I know. You have two weeks. Once it's over, I'll send the police and the institution over. I hope you don't disappoint me."

When she finished speaking, she felt the same icy chills whip her, but with an intense volume that shook her. Sharp pain clenched her chest until she was fatigued and exhausting, almost impossible to breathe, as a tachycardia would have mysteriously given her when she met the transfer student's gaze; it was as if she were looking into a nonexistent emptiness that swallowed her whole soul and being completely.

She walked to the door with a balanced stride without passing out when she came out of the roof and started to rush down the stairs intending to go home, calm down, and shake off the terrifying image of the transfer student who chilled her completely, feeling that she was struck by the gaze of a demon with a human appearance.

* * *

The three watched with surprise as the president of the Student Council left them with a kind of awkward movement when they went out the door, leaving them alone with the hustle and bustle of the city that filled the dense silence that enveloped the rooftop.

"Huh ... what just happened to her?" Ryuji asked with an expression of incomprehension. "It looked like I had given her an attack or something like that"

"... Who knows" Ren cut off the answer when he called the attention of his colleagues with an icy voice. "But the real priority is to carry out our work in finding the gangster, reforming him and having Makoto delete the audio as a sign of mutual cooperation"

The two blondes were tense by the coldness that their leader commanded, but they nodded in not giving importance to the tone in which he spoke.

"The next time you talk about our work how the Phantom Thieves should keep an eye on their surroundings," Morgana grumbled as she peeked through the open zipper of Ren's backpack. "A single rookie mistake can ruin an entire operation. That was a lesson to him."

"From mistakes one learns easily," Ren replied in a casual and unscrupulous voice, leaving the image of a disinterested individualist. "Trials and mistakes help us learn so we don't make them in the future. Now what matters is finding our goal"

"And how shall we do it, genius?" the cat mocked. "Makoto said that gangster is difficult to locate because he has all the means to hide and go unnoticed"

An arrogant and proud smile was drawn on the boy's lips. The change of event in which Makoto must have called him to the Student Council classroom was very different in this alternate timeline, but the result was the same result when he was spied on by Sae's useless sister and was recorded on his cell phone as hard evidence that he didn't give a shit about that superior smile and expression of conviction that Makoto's bitch believed with her high degree of second-rate arrogance.

"Hmm ... that fox smile tells me you have a blueprint, right?" Morgana asked.

"Do you remember that journalist we met at the station on the way to Yongen-Jaya?"

"Huh? Ah! Yes, I do remember her. She introduced herself as Ichiko Ohya by giving us her number in case of anything important. Do you have it?"

"Yes," Ren agreed with conviction. "I have it written down on the cell phone when I transcribe it from the sheet"

"Hey, hey, wait!" Ryuji called anxiously. "What are you talking about? Who is that journalist you are talking about?"

"It is someone who approached me in the afternoon when I returned to the Leblanc" Ren explained. "She knew that I was a Shujin student sometimes when I got on the direct train to school. She asked me a few questions about whether she knew a little bit about whether the Phantom Thieves were there and all that journalism stuff telephone number in case of contacting her if she brought new information. I will call her now to ask that we leave at an agreed time ... "

The two blondes looked at him with amazement and emotion drawing on their faces at the initiative taken with brilliant logistics by the strategic capacity of their leader who saw him as an example to follow in the midst of the uncertainty of a wild world. It was known that this hostility for minutes had been the result of the stress of being caught off guard without realizing it: a rookie mistake.

He was internally angry when showing a mask of serenity for not exploding in front of the President of the Student Council and younger sister of a prosecutor who worked for the SIU, meaning for it as a dead end in which there was no escape, but with the new maneuver launched by their leader, perhaps they could get out of the situation they were in in an easy and simple way.

That was why Ann and Ryuji had their trust and faith placed in their leader.

"Man, you are smart, Ren Ren!" Ryuji exclaimed with childish emotion.

Ren returned the compliment with a silent nod when the call was picked up on the second ring as it was dialed and the journalist's voice was heard from the other line.

"Hello, it's me, Ren Amamiya. I'm calling if you could help me with a complicated matter in exchange for an interview. Yes ... uh-huh. Very well ... okay, we'll see you there. Bye."

"What did she say?" Morgana asked.

"Ohya told me to see her in the Shinjuku sector at night in a bar called Crossroards"

"I will accompany you" Ryuji added with a smile.

"I'd love to go with you, but I'm busy with the sessions and work," Ann admitted with disappointment.

Ren looked at them with mock acceptance through her mask of innocence.

"Let the hunt begin"

* * *

The night had fallen like the blanket of a sheet on a well-made bed. The stars in the sky shone like pearls submerged in a vast ocean of the night that predominated over Shibuya, and whose urban and commercial sectors parade in an endless number of artificial lights between the various domestic and urban establishments. The Shinjuku sector was one of several that fulfilled their task of being awake at twenty-four hours at nightfall and where traffic activity is high. Shops and markets congregated in mazes stuck together and separated by meandering avenues of asphalt that ran with others that connected to other sectors of the modern metropolis of Japan.

For Ren, the Shinjuku cityscape was the same as the murals of paintings that reflected the same drawing unchanged, although the difference was at school when Makoto confronted them by having the recorded audio of Ann and Ryuji's conversation in the playground. That was a change, an unidentified paradigm that altered an entire specified equation in the past, in the old timeline where he was called into the Student Council room with a Makoto in a state of conviction and pride for his dense research.

Another paradigm could include the reform of Futaba ahead of time, but it could be concluded as an enormous benefit by stopping the cyber attack by the Shido puppets.

... Speaking of Shido, he had his first encounter with the bald bastard in the restaurant that Ann had invited them to in the VIP entrance on their way out; the corrupt Prime Minister candidate went to his advisers where Ren had to side with Ryuji to let him pass politely, giving another change in the new timeline. When the elevator doors had opened, Ren decided to take advantage of the opportune moment to remove his glasses in front of him, causing a surprise and consternation reaction in the bastard who screwed up his life. It filled him with exuberant joy like the intoxicating breeze of spring that engulfed him with exhilaration and excitement, but the real satisfaction was yet to come when the whole show ended once and for all.

He had Futaba as a docile dog that could be sent to him with a single word after having sodomized his Shadowed Being in the dream by means of an unlawful tamer act that involved treating her as a sex addicted nymphomaniac by just sucking on her buttocks, fingering her in her groin, and grope her nipples under her mummy bandages. He tamed her like the wild animal that she was ... a simple toy in which to use and then dispose of, like the rest of her ex-friends who would soon serve their purpose.

However, there was another change in which he was not aware, and that was that the class was not taken to Akasaka Universal Studios where Akechi would send training and sinister questions to the spectators, including him; But assuming the way things were, Ren found it indifferent to return to the ungrateful son of a bitch who kept harassing him from diseased and depraved wood.

Would you recognize it? Possibly there was a zero chance that the young hitman detective with a double spy job was certain that he would be identified as a member of the Phantom Thieves, since his image was still neat without being slandered by his criminal record; although in his old timeline, Akechi would have spotted them in a corner by keeping quiet while listening to them. He would make a mental note to tell Ryuji's ape to keep his mouth shut when the moment came, just like for Ann.

"Then where's the path?" asked Ryuji who was next to him, carrying with him the same clothes as in his previous timeline; a red T-shirt with the words printed in yellow that said "NO MO RULE" and the typical black checked pants with suspenders that hang low.

Being in his own thoughts he had forgotten that they had their mission.

"... The bar is facing the front, then we will cross to the right" Ren explained with a hand gesture.

Morgana leaned out from Ren's backpack and glared at the blond ape, calculating the moment to cut off his response in time:

"Why are you wearing your school uniform?"

"It's a pain, then I thought, why bother taking it with me?"

"Well, I should tell you it's a serious mistake on your part," Ren scolded, adjusting his glasses that reflected the brightness of the night lights. "There is a policeman right there"

"Ehh?" Ryuji sharpened his sight, and swallowed as he stiffened that his friend was right; in the sea of pedestrians was an officer reaching the age of forty who was patrolling a corner in the surroundings.

"It is better that we hurry already" Morgana called with tension.

"... Agreed" Ren nodded calmly. "Come on, Ryuji"

The two teenagers continued forward as they sneaked in a straight direction along the avenue full of human activity at a trot, leaving an urban jungle of smaller buildings immersed with many shops and stores in their maximum splendor compared to other cities. in the world. The neon signs gleamed like galactic nebulae that gave a great intensity of attraction with names and the slogan that some customers came to them as if they were flies. The bars were full, the prostitutes made their night rounds of sex-servants before any client who was interested, the junk food stalls enjoyed good diners who satiated the taste of fat and sweets ... everything was alive.

Although as much as one saw it as a peaceful place, it was only a simple appearance to the peripheral eye: drug trafficking, sales of illegal items, purchase of stolen gadgets and other inappropriate things was always the order of the day in the deepest of gaps newly opened in unseen sections. Corruption grew like cancer through the stagnation of a society that found its peak of evolution and then fell like a simple tree cut down by the individual who built it.

Urban areas in modern sectors was home to all kinds of people who were tired of living a daily life that made them slaves to their own choices, these areas were the true face of the human being in total depravity in the madness of a well bottomless; people dressed as men and women without any harm, clubs and bars provided exotic relaxation due to sexual dread, the consumption of harmful substances in discotheques and corners devoid of pedestrian activity were considered sacred to a certain mental point of view, the Corruption of law enforcement officers was mostly prevalent in leaving assigned work

Gangs arose between anarchy and the dissatisfaction of living in an age of authority or one of submission; The territories that were once protected by the arm of the law are now nests of rats in their leisure to do what they please, infesting and corrupting in their path; the values that had to be respected were left behind by the freedom to express displeasure at the harshness of a system without any qualms. The slums and urban areas were the epicenters where autonomy was stained by the crude putrefaction of the human being in his vain arrogance and despotism of living in unscrupulous ignorance, where evil was the new law.

Stagnation and the lack of autonomous progressivism were the main causes in which corruption escalated to form a vicious circle that had no end; Such examples of corruption among the great civilizations could be cataloged in the Roman Empire, the Byzantine Empire, the Alexandrian Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, the kingdoms of India, the kingdoms of Africa, among other civilizations that were swallowed by the cancer growing from the internal corruption of a society entering decay, and when it entered the phase of decay, there was no salvation.

_'... And yet, this is what the idiot Minato Arisato had done'_ Ren thought with venomous bitterness; _'save a species that is destined for self-destruction... __what a waste of potential__'_. For all the avenue of people that the two had passed they got people of the worst kind who did not stop promoting the entry into nightclubs full of sex servants and drug use in less explicit words so that no one knew, they also ran into with some that showed perverse or degenerate features or that had been induced by alcohol and then recovered and returned to normal; There were prostitutes who beckoned or seduced winks to stop them like succubi who induced men to then suck their spirits out; there were men dressed as women, and some bad boys in leather suits. This place was a rot in its entirety.

"This area gives me a bad feeling," Ryuji murmured with disagreement, shooting furtive and cautious glances at the surroundings.

"... We're almost there" Ren assured with a calm tone. "One last block is missing that is in front"

"Hmph! As long as everything is fast so that the gangster information is conclusive for us to leave this place. I can feel how all eyes are on us."

"It will be fast, or that depends on her not being drunk"

"... Damn, I hope she is not with him"

"No one can control his guilty pleasures" Ren said with a dark humor; "They are so attractive that it is impossible to fight internally to indulge yourself. It's like eating junk food every day no matter how harmful they are to the human body"

"I like hamburgers and pork broth noodle soups," Ryuji commented excitedly, "but it hurts if you don't have an established balance; athletes eat a diet of carbohydrates and calories for energetic muscle function and bombardment of adrenaline. I follow that medication in being in the international games "

"... And speaking of sports, does your leg hurt?"

"No" he replied with affirmation. "I applied a healing spell if I could heal my leg that Kidd provided, and it seems the effort paid off. My leg is healthy and ready for action when you order!"

Ren laughed falsely as he complimented him on his improved limb damaged by the degenerate Kamoshida. No matter how many broken legs or dislocated bones in Shadow fights, a jerk would always be a jerk, and that was what Ryuji Sakamoto made up of: a gross ape who only likes stupid things and gets mad when he rebukes him for some idiocy that did, even with the beating of his team members it was only a mere spanking or slapping. Ryuji Sakamoto would never change at all, and that ape attitude almost fractured the group, something that would never forgive him even when the time came to kill him.

When Ren decided to look around if a Kaneshiro thug was following them, he noticed a movement of two tiny figures that were moving among the pedestrians without them being aware of their existence. Digging deeper with sharpness perfected by his Persona, spotting the twins' blue velvet uniforms of security guards.

_'... They're watching me,'_ Ren concluded as he kept a scrutiny of the crowd where the twins moved like a beam of velvety lights._ 'Hmph! It seems that Yaldabaoth decided to moderate his surveillance system in my progress. Tsk! Typical of the God of Control'_

"Something happens?" Ryuji asked, watching him with concern. "Is anyone following us?"

"... Let's see" Morgana leaned half an inch from the backpack, monitoring the cobblestones. "Mmm, there is nobody, except for some punks and a policeman who drove in the left direction; the rest only passers-by. All normal, for now"

"... Dude" the blond aple called desperately.

"... Calm down," Ren replied. "We are close, observe"

Ryuji directed the glance indicated by his friend, noticing the sign of the bar that coincided with the name where the journalist must have been. The premises had two floors with two yellow electrical signs and purple wall outlines. Inside was a door and a staircase leading to the first floor above.

"... Man, finally" Ryuji exhaled wearily. "This night has been the most intense since we faced Shadow Kamoshida"

Morgana looked at the establishment with an analytical gaze.

"Beer, whiskey, wine ... typical of night bars"

_'Don't tell me, cat ...'_ the Trickster of Chaos thought wryly.

"Pff ... I suppose they will possibly let us in if you find the journalist" Ryuji stretched out his arms. "I'd better be outside in case something happens; walking will ease the tension I carry."

Ren nodded as he opened the door and entered the establishment.

_'Mmm, it seems to continue as it was before ...'_ In himself he was right to see the interior of the bar with a rectangular space that divided the two dark blue bars that shortened it, impossible for people to fall, except that they can accommodate a minimum seventeen consumers with four private rooms. The tiles were black and white checkerboard-like patterns. The ceiling was made of wood with grayish metal arches with reflectors of various colors that gave a festive sharpness. The shelves full of different types of liquor were still in place without any change, to which its ten black-lined chairs and the barman and owner of the bar, Lala Escargot, a robust and dark-skinned woman wearing a color yukata of the night with centers of golden flowers and a golden haori that kept the place stable and in order. And...

"... So that's the student you spoke to, Ichiko?"

"... Yes, that's right. That's the boy I was talking about, Maya. Hello, hello!"

He was speechless, he knew perfectly well that the changes in the new timeline surprised him a lot, but this surpassed another level, one in which the old knew the new; an old generation that went through so many personal problems to guarantee a peaceful future and tomorrow to the new generation.

Next to Ohya was Maya Amano herself, a former journalist for the teen magazine Coolset and current writer for Kismet Publishing in Sumaru, and also a former Persona user. Although unlike her young counterpart in the visions given by Tzeentch, Maya still carried that feminine beauty that contrasted with an age of about thirty something that highlighted a careful image of her appearance; her wavy black hair was shoulder length with a sleek, sleek hairstyle, her skin was light, and her purple eyes sparkled with a youthful and childish touch. His clothing was a two-tone brown jacket with matching pants and boots and a navy tie around his neck.

Ren had to break out of a five-minute trance as he walked towards the two journalists with a blank expression, trying not to be startled by the inexplicable ex-user of the second-generation Persona.

"Lala, we need to use the seats in the back" Ohya's tone was a bit of childish joy and looking at her for her almost drunken state. "Come on in. Shall I buy you some water?"

Ren accepted the offer with a nod as the three sat in the quadrangular lined seat that previously recalled the lightness of sitting in it.

"Poof, how his breath smells ..." Morgana muttered in disgust from the backpack.

"I agree with you on that" Ren said to himself as he slipped his hand over the semi-open backpack and began to caress him until he purred.

"Ha ha! What a surprise" Ohya laughed humorously. "I thought it was a joke, but here you are. Let me introduce you to a friend; she is Maya Amano"

"Hello ..." Ren said as he shook hands with the old female Persona user, feeling in his touch the energetic recognition between old and new, but that was only a thing of the past, of a past he wanted to forget.

"Nice to meet you" Maya replied with a smile from ear to ear. "It must have been difficult for you to get here as a young"

"... It was" Ren agreed, forcing a monotonous tone before the two women. "I came with a friend who decided to take a few walks around the district. I told him it would be quick when"

"Heh heh!" Ohya laughed. "Surely your friend can get into trouble if we take longer"

"I can agree on that," Morgana muttered approvingly, while Ren laughed at that, which was true when he knew perfectly the blond ape's attitude.

"... And also" Maya intervened, "Ichiko told me that you were the student of Shujin that she gave you the number in case you called, do you have any information that you want to tell us?"

"... Something like that" Ren said with simplicity. "It is I want to know how dangerous Shibuya can be"

The two female journalists looked at him questioningly.

"Eh? I don't understand?" Maya asked, tilting her head. "What do you mean?"

"What I'm trying to explain is that the situation is becoming tense at school"

Both women raised their eyebrows.

"How tense are they?" Ohya asked with a look that conveyed curiosity and hunger for information. "Did another Kamoshida-like problem happen?"

"No," Ren denied. "It is different; it has to do with the use of extortion and manipulation of young people like me who are used as pack mules in drug trafficking"

The two women showed expressions of surprise and horror at the profound explanation given by the chosen one of the Ruinous Powers.

"God ... that, that horrible" Maya expressed with concern.

"It seems there is always one problem at a time when you remove bad ivy," Ohya commented with disgust, frowning at her. "Unfortunately it always happens in schools where young people are easily manipulated in a dangerous world. The heads of each criminal group always use stratagems to mobilize their influences to grow in power. All cities and all countries have their own internal problems with respect to mafias, cartels and gang members that populate every remote place. Japan is no exception in this, with its high crime rate recently being compared to Mexico on scales of crime acts"

"Although with the boom of the Phantom Thieves it is a different thing" Maya pointed out when drinking her drink. "It is possible that the groups are secretly mobilizing about maintaining a state of anonymity; unless one armed himself with enough courage to give the location of his provider. Sometimes the mafias use dirty tricks to get away with it, but I doubt it is impossible to get a clue as to the name of the chief who manipulates Shujin's students. Threats and extortions are orthodoxly old-fashioned uses as a security and precautionary tool. "

"... I see" Ren agreed with the head, agreeing that the two women were right that it is impossible to approach the barracks and the names of those involved in said mafia group without knowing that they are always at both of the circumstances in case there was an infiltrator. "I guess it is difficult after all"

"However," Ohya argued, "it turns out I know something about it. I'd tell you, but ..." She took a sip of her icy alcoholic drink. "Do you know the Phantom Thieves of Hearts?"

"Because what you say?" Ren asked.

"Both Maya and I investigated about people who suddenly get out of control, but there is no information"

"Both?"

"Yes" Maya replied with a brief frank affirmation. "The events linked to the strange disease of mental closures from six months ago is one of the points that I have begun to investigate. It is not known with certainty what causes accidents, but it adds up to a great comparison with the Syndrome of Apathy that plagued Tatsumi Port Island after mysteriously disappearing in January 2010. Mental closures have the same symptoms as Syndrome of Apathy, but it differs in a kind of psychological trance until the person's motor behavior is lost. The Phantom Thieves of Heart appear in their first demonstration of changing the former Olympian Suguru Kamoshida who expressed his misdeeds, which is reminiscent of the modus operandis of the Masked Circle that related to fulfilling personal wishes, although in the case of the Phantom Thieves they only changed the attitude of the individual through the so-called change of heart"

"... A very precise and readable detail" Ren said when drawing a false smile and recognition before the intellect of the old female Persona user who had previously participated in that group after fighting against his counterpart from another timeline. The curious thing was that their leader was called Joker (not to mention that the subject was very related to Yusuke), the same epithet that he also carried when commanding a group that wore masks that answered the call of the poor innocent souls, but with a completely different task: the Masked Circle collected the energy of ideals to create a new order, while the Phantom Thieves reformed the dark counterparts to make society a better future free of corruption. It could also be added that both groups were formed by two deities born from the flow of psychic thoughts that represent the actions of the human being: Yaldabaoth embodies the ideals of a world governed by power where the law is the primary authority through the Phantoms Thieves, and while Nyarlathotep embodies the ideals of anarchy and devastation where the Masked Circle would create a world where the survival of the fittest is essential.

It was simply the same game of tossing the coin and seeing which face would win the contest, something that did not matter because it was always the same stupidity of a used cliché that was good against evil, although in the situation in which Ren found himself was different; It was not a primary confrontation, but a battle between realistic ideals from different points of view of each player on the board.

"It is, I always hit the target" Maya smiled confidently, further enhancing her youthful beauty. "My training as a journalist has helped me delve deeper into the world of a world full of events and mysteries that are hidden from the optical view. You just have to give yourself a boost by curiosity, and with only, you can find a story. It is as well as the profession of a journalist"

"... Very fascinating" said Ren; He directed his gaze to Ohya. "So it's kind of a barter for information?"

"Yes!" Ohya exclaimed with determining emotion. "I need you to give us all the information collected about the Phantom Thieves to make a story about whether or not they are indeed vigilantes; since the phenomenon of mental shutdowns may somehow be related to the Phantom Thieves, assuming they are the truly responsible for creating the accidents"

_'I must admit it's a pretty close correlation'_ Ren thought sardonically. Everyone agreed that the mental shutdown accidents and the changes of hearts that the Phantom Thieves performed were very similar in using an unknown method that began to gain great animosity among the people of Shibuya, reaching the point of hysteria collective where people would distrust each other to fear that someone was the Phantom Thieves. The police would also take sides as simple thugs seeking revenge against those responsible for losing their jobs, as well as some foreign governments and criminal groups that would search every hidden place in the city to find the Phantom Thieves as the cockroaches they were.

"So those are the conditions?"

"Mmm ... yeah, something like that" Ohya replied as she took another drink. "After all, you were studying at Shujin when we saw each other while wearing your uniform. I thought that, studying there, you would know something about the Phantom Thieves. The first incident where they made an appearance was with Kamoshida. I would like to get an interview with a student who had suffered from their abuse. It would be great if you introduced someone who fits in the profile" a playful smile was drawn on his lips passed in red, showing her attitude similar to that of a live one. "It seems that we must operate in secret, so ... what do you tell me?"

"Mmm, a student suffering from abuse ..." Morgana muttered thoughtfully inside the backpack. Ren knew perfectly well that Yuuki Mishima was the one to do the barter of information just as he had done in his old timeline. Poor Mishima suffered long before his arrival in Shibuya, seeing him covered in bruises and bruises that reminded him of the training that the Spartans did to the new generation that suffering was the tool of converting a weak child to a strong warrior; Kamoshida did the same, but his own cult of his personality ruined him into a depraved and bastard who did not care about the suffering of the students.

"I know someone who was abused by Kamoshida," said Ren.

Both women drew faces of acceptance on their faces at the new scoop as a form of payment.

"Well, I'm done" Ohya replied with a happy smile. "Give me your friend's number later"

"You have a very active naive" Morgana congratulated him from the backpack. "Well done, Joker"

"Now that I think about it," Ohya began to say through a change of subject, "mental closures and Phantom Thieves are supernatural" she looked at her journalist friend. "Do you think they are related or do I see coincidences where there are none?"

"According to what I said, there may be" said Maya, "although there is a high possibility that they did not, reinforcing in my own theory that it could be someone who could replicate the same disease that was Syndrome of Apathy for create panic in the city, while the members of the Phantom Thieves decide to use it for another purpose, I'm only saying because it's a theory of mine, but it would depend on the opinion of the boy who suffered the abuse of Kamoshida"

_'... And in that you are right, Maya Amano'_ Ren thought with a dark and evil feeling. _'Maybe I can make you an appointment with Goro Akechi himself to give you the whole truth of his tragic past that led him to create mental closure ...'_

"Well ... I guess the promise is debt" Ohya said as she took another drink. "Junya Kaneshiro, is the name of the guy you are looking for"

"We did it!" Morgana said triumphantly from the backpack.

_'... just play our move, again'_ Ren thought.

"... Well, ladies, it was a nice evening to spend with you, but time flies and I have my friend waiting outside" he took the backpack with Morgana inside and finished drinking his freezing water devoid of ice. "The next time you need a testimony related to Shujin, don't hesitate to call me."

Having done an act of chivalry when leaving the bar, Ren walked down the night street full of lights and people towards the cinema where Ryuji was waiting for him, remembering very well the address with the preserved memory of his first visit and the tragic destiny of the ape blond.

"Hey! How did it go there? Do we have the name of our heist?"

"Yes, we do," Ren told him, "but don't speak out loud if I tell you the name; I don't want you to get the attention of some of his employees who patrol the streets."

"I promise"

"Well, her name is Junya Kaneshiro"

"Junya Kaneshiro?!" Ryuji repeated, his voice not raised to Ren's liking. "Let me write it down in the Navigator" Ryuji spoke the name in the app, and it was automatically saved in it. "Here we go! Now we just need to know more about the distortion, and then, to the Palace!"

"It is better that we return tomorrow with the whole team" Morgana advised from the backpack.

"I agree with that" Ren said as he stretched out his arms.

"Okay, well I tell the others that we will see each other in Shibuya" Ryuji said. "What madness, this is a big fish! You want to go into his Palace"

And just as the night was going to pass normally on the way to their respective homes, it seemed that nothing would change in the new timeline that Ren was when observing how the Butterfly Effect was repeated, just as he had anticipated.

"... You're right!" a familiar voice behind the two teens had answered, a voice that Ren recognized, but he didn't dare turn around. "If it would look good on him! But a print shirt with check pants? Not crazy"

Ren watched lazily as the two drag of Angel and Julian appeared in love poses before the blond ape.

"How wonderful! No one will say that the drag roll is going" Angel had said with emotion reflected in his voice. "You have to teach him the basics!"

"You can not deny it!" Julian had replied with eyes that twinkled playfully. "We saw you snooping on Crossroads. If you're curious, we'll make you divine!"

"Hey, wait," Ryuji objected, coming out of his stupor, "it's not what ..." He looked at Ren, pleading for help needed. "Dude, help me! Tell them we were just investigating!"

Seeing that the situation was as fun as it had been in his old timeline, Ren decided to improve it further to delight in seeing his former teammate suffer.

"... End them"

Inside the backpack, Morgana kept laughing.

"What?! How do you want me to do it?!" the blond ape snapped annoyed. "What happens is that they are going to leave me a picture if you don't help me!"

"Oh, darling, I shameless," Julian had said boldly. "And look what cheekbones ... I love it! It has everything to be a star!"

"You follow my example, men!" Angel had said. "You will reach the top! And I have the perfect dress for you!"

"But what the hell are you guys?!" Ryuji bellowed furiously.

"Devils don't whistle anything, sweetheart. I'm Angel, fallen from heaven!"

"And I am Julian. Julie for friends! Now you will come with us"

"Aaaaah!" The blond ape had screamed in horror as he was dragged against his will by the two drags, unable to escape the fateful fate awaiting them alive.

"Hopefully Ryuji finds his calling and everything," Morgana replied wisely from the backpack. "I hope he comes out alive"

"I agree with you" Ren replied, unable to contain his laughter at imagining how Ryujji was tortured with some garments that would make him look effeminate and lower his impertinence of manhood. Although the most sadistic thing would be that, when he decided to betray his friends after killing Yaldabaoth, that Ryuji's soul ended up in the Warp where it would be a toy for Slaanesh's daemons as eternal punishment; He would not wait for the right moment to see him sitting in the front row.

But, before he went to look for the blond ape, he decided to pay a visit to his ancient oracle.

"What are you doing?" Moragana asked from the backpack. "Where are you going? Didn't we have to go back to the Leblanc?"

"... I just want to go back to a corner where I came from, I felt a strange fluctuation of rare energy" Ren lied as he walked the way he had come, heading towards a corner near a building, where he spotted his ancient spirit guide and oracle of fate, Chihaya Mifune.

He felt the twins watching him from a corner, but he pretended not to recognize them.

"Huh ... excuse me," Chihaya had said in a shy tone when he caught his attention.

"Yes?" Ren replied casually, continuing his innocent role.

"I ... wouldn't you be interested in making some predictions for them?" she stuttered like a shy girl, then her tone changed to a scholarly and wise attitude. "It's weird ... I see that her aura is completely strange, as if everything was starting to change in a strange way. Wouldn't you mind if I did ...?"

"... Do I have to pay for it?" Ren questioned in a serious tone, laughing internally at how Chihaya's expression was scandalized.

"No, of course not!" she denied frankly. "It is free. I just want to see in the letters what makes you stand out"

"Heh, I guess a look at my future wouldn't be too bad" Ren said with a nod of acceptance.

"Many think that knowing about their own events was seen as a waste of time," Chihaya explained in a friendly tone, "but there are some who are clogged up in a spiral with no way out, letting in the despair and uncertainty that they would prepare the new tomorrow. By the way, my name is Chihaya Mifune, and today I'm going to make your guess. Could you start by saying your name"

"I'm Ren Amamiya" he introduced himself with a condescending tone.

"Ren Amamiya, I see. Your name indicates good fortune"

_'... I feel praise for it'_ she thought to herself with blatant arrogance. _'It also had another meaning, but that was lost long ago'_

"Well, as we introduce ourselves, it is time for me to see your future" Chihaya put the Tarot cards in orderly positions on the violet cloak. "Oh divine power, show me this boy's fortune!" After she recited the prayer Ren had heard before. Chihaya started turning the cards over. "The first letter ... is Mm, I see. And the second ... Geez!" The flip cards had been the same in their old timeline without any changes. Chihaya spoke: "Yes, I have seen it all. A torrent of light that darkens the sun like an arrow piercing the sky. That means fortune, but only to an owner who runs a cafeteria where he will win the lottery, while with you, it is different..."

_'Sojiro's thing was to be expected that it would happen again'_ Ren thought uniformly,_ 'although with the latter it must mean that nothing will be like before after seeing this whole world burn. See if your precious destiny can save you from your death, witch'_

"Hmmm, it's strange" Chihaya continued saying; "The cards always show the glimpses of the events established by fate when glimpsed in hidden signs. But this ... this is illogical. It is impossible that there was an inexplicable change that completely destroyed the order of the Tarot. Let's see ... "What ?! The arcana sequence has completely changed. Death still presides in the center, but somehow it doesn't seem to affect the order you are in. Everything is confusing; it just shows me the owner's luck in your home." ... but in you, it doesn't belong in the equation"

"You mean that?" Ren asked curiously, internally thinking that the Ruinous Powers blocked Chihaya's sixth sense when she was cut by the veil of the future.

"I ..." she stuttered, bewildered and distressed. "I ... I really don't know. I want to see your future, but the arcana sequence does not allow me to see. Everything is in its place, although the strange anomaly that clouds my ability to observe the threshold of what will happen more Go ahead. This ... this doesn't make sense to me. My gift has never disappointed me much; I always manage to highlight the internal feeling of people being predestined by the threads of fate. But, even so, the letters explain a kind of ruler of Order and Law plans to reestablish the balance on extreme anarchy that devours the stage. Then, as for you ... well, let's say it is complicated to see that you have a strange profession that is difficult to see"

"... I see" Ren agreed nonchalantly after adjusting his glasses. "I suppose that must be a bad thing, right?"

"Well ..." Chihaya hesitated. "This ... this is very complicated; it goes beyond my expectations"

"Is there something I should be aware of?"

"Hmm. When the letters speak so clearly, their truth is undeniable. Although, now that I think about it, there may be a way for you to have an existence in your reality" Chihaya took out from her purple pants the same object that she had given her previously on the old timeline. "You only need my special spirit item ... the Sacred Stone!"

Ren looked at him blankly at the so-called "magic stone" that had neither magic, but a simple seasoning used in food.

It was obvious that it was fake, a dirty trick used by the chairman of the Divine Power Assembly, Yuichi Fukurai, a village scoundrel who had first come to Tokyo to a vocational training center, but he was fooled like all scammers who They made the innocent of a promising future. Fukurai had spent all his money on the alleged tuition, until he was left alone and bankrupt. He asked the police for help, but they laughed turning a blind eye to him and left him to his own devices. Fukurai promised himself never to be deceived by others again, and to his poor luck, he became a deceiver and con artist when he joined the organization as part of his "revenge" against those who would suffer the same fate as him.

The irony of the human being in its stupid and shameless complexity.

Ren picked it up and shook it in his palm.

"Are you saying this will help me?" he questioned.

"Of course yes!" Chihaya stated with false emotion that Ren noticed it. "With its power in your hands, you can avoid even the most unfortunate destination ... surely! I usually recommend it to clients with experiences, but your situation is too delicate"

_'... In fact, that "was" before'_ Ren internally corrected._ 'My situation is no longer as delicate as it was a long time ago. Now, everything has changed when I had my second chance, thanks to my masters who saved me and gave me a new purpose'_

"You see" Chihaya continued saying with pretended enthusiasm, "the stone has an aura of joy that will make all the fatal energy around you ..." Her sentence was cut when she saw Ren lick the stone with his tongue.

"... It's salt" said the Trickster of Chaos roughly.

She blanched.

"Salt? W-What do you mean, salt? What you have is not a piece of salt, it's ...!"

"... It's salt" Ren clarified, raising his voice in a cold and icy tone that made Chihaya shiver as he smashed the piece of salt with the palm of his hand. The seer girl stared at her with trembling black eyes.

She looked down regretfully and nodded.

"You are correct" she said gently and sadly. "The stones are not magic, they never were, but a fraud, a commercial fraud ..." Then she proceeded to tell her sad story, beginning as a girl who had been born in a traditional and rural town lost in the mountains where she predicted a terrible earthquake that would violently hit her town, in which they did not believe her, but it really happened. Locals revered her as a kind of messenger from God, a spiritual guide in the land of mortals. But, over time, she began to predict more catastrophes, and as a result, people in her town began to blame her, calling her a monster, a demon, being cursed, among many insults that made her feel scared. She related that she spent several days locked in her house while the villagers threw stones at her window and threw threats at her. For a time, nothing changed for her, until one day her house was set on fire by a pissed off gangster. Then she got to the part where she moved to the city when she finished high school, she also told him that she had no money to live in an apartment, which she had had no choice but to work in a night club to support herself Then Fukurai got it there, and the rest is history.

"... I see" Ren understood with an expressionless image and deep tone. "So he rescued you from there so you could start a new life"

"Yes" Chihaya agreed. "When I told him why I left my town, he invited me to join the DPA"

"Then there they gave you a new purpose ..."

"That's right" she agreed again. "It was then that he named me the Oracle of Relief. He told me that he possessed a divine power with which he would save his neighbor from misfortune. That he could be much more than the monster than the others"

"But they hooked you up"

There was pity and helplessness in Chihaya's expression as her black eyes narrowed.

"I thought I was doing the right thing when I joined them. I thought I could change my destiny by starting a new life from scratch, but there are always obstacles along the way when you least expect it. I've always known that stones have no powers, but I thought I could save people despite being a monster. Or maybe that's why I'm a monster, the truth is that I've been selling them to make money. I'm a bad person"

"No, you are not," Ren said with false encouragement to get her into a mood, and it seems to have worked easily.

"I'm not?"

"Of course not," Ren expressed with mock sincerity. "What you're doing was because you needed money to support yourself financially when you saw that there was no other option. You didn't do it out of selfishness, but out of necessity, and that doesn't make you a bad person"

"Do you really believe it?"

"Doesn't the letters say so?"

There was a long pause when only the sound of pedestrians, the bustle of conversations, and the illuminating clamor of the buildings behind her were heard. Chihaya's face had changed from a sad expression to one of enlightenment through her black eyes that shone with a slight tone of hope.

"I ..." she stuttered, "I ... I had not thought about it. I never thought before if it was really a mistake or something I had to bring. I never contradicted my own destiny by seeing me in this situation. But, even so ... "

"It is not necessary to be carried away by the teachings of a force such as destiny or to see fortune in your own cards, but in the decision-making that one must make, whether for something good or for something bad. We are governed by our own actions to achieve our own destiny. What you do is to be stuck in your own abyss where you are guided by something theological instead of doing it personally. You have the right to do as you please through your own actions that can lead you to a better life"

Chihaya was stunned for a few minutes that returned to normal when she regained her composure.

"It's ... it's true. Everything you say is true" in her purple eyes shone with determination. "I never thought I was contradicting the same fate, now I see how wrong I was. I will not continue to go through injustices! From this moment I will have to make changes in my life for the better. And for this, I will fight against the DPA"

"Why don't you ask the Phantom Thieves for help?" Ren suggested.

"Eh?"

"Think about it; if you are going to confront the organization that had taken you in for their own convenience, they will do their best to keep you silenced by threats. All religious organizations have power over people of low self-esteem, which can manipulate them at their liking it, including those on the business and advocacy side as well as using lawyers as a shield. Keep it perfectly in mind that what you would do is take a chance against a powerful fraudulent organization that has it all. See it as a battle strategy: the Phantom Thieves would attack the president to confess all his misdeeds, while you will go to the seminars and explain the whole truth, even if there will be doubts and questions, but it is a win and win"

Chihaya was thoughtful to herself to assimilate all the planning Ren had given her as a good way to face the inevitable.

"The Phantom Thieves ..." she murmured if she repeated the song of a melody. "Since they made an appearance to mysteriously change the heart of that sports coach, everything has suddenly changed; the people, the emotions, the weather, everything. It is as if a purifying air had lashed all Tokyo in sweeping the afflicted discomfort. Letters showed a slight change in the scheme of events when the Phantom Thieves began with the disturbances and behavior of people. At first I doubted that they could be the cause of the mental closures, but the letters said with were not them, but another, someone with much regret or something like that. Sometimes it is impossible to alter your own destiny no matter how hard you try, although, as you said, it is possible to alter it by our own actions, and I think the Phantom Thieves are an example in which We humans can decide for ourselves without being tied to the indications of fortune and destiny. I will follow your advice and make everything change for the good of the people you work for n in the DPA so that they are not exploited like me"

"It's a wonderful determination that you can finally take charge of your own decisions," Ren praised, hiding an acid mockery without being noticed. "Maybe you should call me in case everything goes well"

Chihaya gave her her phone number after saying goodbye, saying that she would call her when the Phantom Thieves reformed the DPA president, which would happen when she found Ryuji dressed in pictures and made up in the extroverted nightlife of Shinjuku.

* * *

After the fun and wacky events in Shinjuku, Ren had returned to the Leblanc at just the right time before closing. During the course of his night shift in Shinjuku he had passed without incident after searching for an annoyed Ryuji when they dressed him against his will, although the blond ape managed to regain his masculinity; He also could not forget that Justine and Caroline had spied on him when they were going to the Crossroads when perceiving them among the crowd, it was to be expected that Yaldabaoth would have him in a maximum scrutiny in the progress of the rehabilitation, advising to himself that he would have to be on guard for the rest of the day.

"Ah, you're home now" Sojiro said as he looked at him as the door behind him closed. "I was waiting for you"

From his expression, Ren was able to deduce that the owner of the cafeteria was happy to have won the lottery, something seen in his old timeline and in the potential of clairvoyance that Chihaya Mifune genuinely had in glimpsing the veil of the future through the letters of the Tarot.

"Did he win the lottery?" Ren asked with interest.

Sojiro's expression hitched to such a point that his smile was that of a happy child. On the wooden bar he put a yen bill on its surface.

"You guessed it" he replied. "I won the lottery and I wanted to share the money"

"Five thousand yen ?!" Morgana exclaimed in shock from the bag.

"That's a lot of money" Ren observed.

"But enough to live financially and have it saved for important things" advised Sojiro. "Come on, take it as a token of goodwill for helping me at the Leblanc. After all, you've improved a lot to be someone with a criminal record"

Ren smiled vehemently.

"Thank you" he thanked while taking the money.

"No problem. Anyway, remember to close as always"

Seeing him leave the Leblanc, Morgana emerged from inside the bag.

"So ... does that mean the fortune teller was right?"

"Well it seems so" Ren said with hidden irritation. "That was why I decided to visit her, something about her was strange, and it seems that it was her clairvoyance ability that caught my attention. Curious, don't you think?"

"I can't deny that," said the cat. "It usually happens in fiction, but it seems that his first vision of Sojiro winning the lottery means that his power is true. You have done well to investigate"

"It is always my duty to investigate the occult; you know, trickster talent," Ren said mischievously. "Though, thinking that her powers are genuine, does that mean that he may be linked to the Metaverse?"

"What makes you say that?"

"I'm just saying it out of curiosity," he said casually with a shrug.

"Hmm ..." Morgana thought. "There is a high probability that she developed a sense of perception in her psyche at an early age when she was born in her hometown. The Metaverse is linked to the human world because it represents a counterpart created by collective distortion, allowing me to create a theory in which a person can feel the threshold of the psychic essences that the Metaverse promotes as an attractive energy to the sensory instincts, developing in them an affinity as it is of clairvoyance. Yes, in that I can be sure of it. Sojiro's winning the lottery is proof of his ability ... but what he said later leaves me with a lot to think about "

"Who knows?" Ren replied nonchalantly with a shrug. "We will discuss that another time; tomorrow is a tiring day"

"You are right" Moragana said when he let out a yawn. "Tonight has been very exhausting for us. Sleeping would make us feel better to regain our strength."

He nodded wordlessly as she closed the Leblanc and arranged everything in its place. After finishing his work, he walked to the attic as he went up the stairs; He changed his clothes and turned off everything, plunging the room into a warp of darkness while the moonlight bathed the room with its warm whitish light.

At the time of lying down, Ren did not sleep, but was kept awake by the uncertainty and the questions that rioted in his mind while he had Morgana sleeping next to him: What had happened? How could everything possibly change suddenly? It made no sense. What must have been one night in the Shinjuku sector looking for information led him to meet a former user of Persona, a Philemon toy who had no choice but to get involved in another conspiracy created from a deity he wants create a new order, although this god was affiliated with the law and not destruction as Nyarlathotep was.

Given by the information stored in its fullest totality in his mind, Ren knew perfectly well about the life and determination of Maya Amano; her past, her childhood, her power, her friends, all about her in just one divine revealing snap given by Tzeentch.

It was impossible for everything to happen so suddenly, he knew that the dimensional change of this new timeline promulgated the appearance of two new Persona users, but the appearance of the old generation was a big surprise for him, which leads him to think that sooner or later some other Persona user would appear in Tokyo to investigate the phenomenon of Phantom Thieves and mental closures.

Who would he meet? The Kirijo Group led by the Frost Queen? The Chad-led Investigation Team? Or maybe the two groups of old generations? The odds were high, and with just entering the training phase by the Ruinous Powers, he was barely achieving further growth in increasing his bonds with his friends in storing all the trust planted in him and using him to become stronger in order to defeat them. everyone and destroy the Earth.

It would be a long week, but it would be worth it to end up exhausted and fatigued in achieving your goal that your masters had entrusted to you.

He would not disappoint them and would not allow his second chance to be squandered. I would do everything that was to end everything.

* * *

**See you in the next chapter where the real action will begin.**

**Leave a criticism and comment.**

**Bye.**


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